This Vet would like to give a shout out to the FAMILIES of Veterans.

Seldom do you get the recognition you deserve. From wives who keep the household running while their husbands are deployed to husbands who raise the kids while their wives are deployed, to kids who warm the hearts of their deployed parents with letters. Let's not forget parents of deployed servicemen and women who send care packages. Your sacrifices and strength have kept members of our Armed Forces focused by letting them know you're there and that you love them.

I think you deserve a day of your own. I feel the same about the families of those we honor on Memorial Day. Their sacrifice will affect them for the rest of their lives. Cindy Sheehan, and DU'ers who have lost loved ones, this (((((hug's))))) for you.

My last deployment started when my wife was 5 months pregnant and ended when my beautiful daughter was two months old. Through it all, my wife (now my ex but we get along okay) kept her job, kept the lights on and the mortgage paid, and sent me letters and care packages that made my heart soar and my eyes leak. All that among a thousand other things I probably would have failed at had our situations been reversed.

Here's to YOU, families of Veterans, you keep our servicemen and women going. Your love keeps them warm when it's bitter cold outside. I salute you.

Those who make the choice to serve their country need an extra layer of commitment and understanding from families.

But families who make that commitment often end up with a surprising sense of reward. Not just in terms of the satisfaction from having made a commitment to service, but in the shared challenges overcome and the deeper connection and caring from the extra commitment. Not all families make it all the way-- it's a tough road. But it can be wonderful.

Being a Marine was part of who my Dad was. Even long after he got out of the service, the Marine was always there. Even when in mid-life, he made some fairly profound direction changes that sent him on a thoughtful and spiritual quest, he remained a Marine. The sense of honoring a commitment, of valuing friends and co-workers, of being able to overcome challenges was part of what I got from him.

Happy Veterans' Day, all active service members and veterans and their families!

appreciatively,
Bright