Honor The Standing, Remember The Fallen, Care For The Wounded

This is the time of the year when we set aside to specifically honor veterans. It's the time of year specifically set aside to Honor the Standing, Remember the Fallen, and Care for our Wounded Veterans. This issue has been significant to my family for years, and I'll get to the why shortly.

Pay tribute to those who give you the freedom to exercise your rights. Without these guys, we would have neither.

Honor the Standing,

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Honoring veterans should be a daily act. These are the guys who lay down their lives. These guys sacrifice their body, their family time, their career, and their life........voluntarily. This is amazing. They volunteer for this task of protecting America.

They have earned the right to enter a building first, and sit down at a restaurant first, at the very least. Out of all of the people walking around, these are the guys who have earned respect from everyone. They are heroes!

Take time to say "Thank You" to service members, past and present, when you see them.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net" width="300" height="198" data-mce-src="http://theaveragehunter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ID-10029541-300x198.jpg">Remember the Fallen,

I remember one July 4th celebration, and there was a traveling exhibit and ceremony of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall that had come to town. We were searching the wall to find his name.........granted I was 8 or 9 at the time, so 5 minutes felt like an hour. Just after we found his name, the ceremony was getting started. The color guard presented the flag, and all of the active duty service members and veterans snapped to attention. Then I saw tears starting to well up in my mom's eyes.

Then Taps began to play, and her tears began to flow, so I looked around and every veterans eyes were glistening with those same tears.

Then came the 21 shot solute and my mom flinching at the sound of every single shot that was fired, it was as though she was still that high school girl who was standing at her brother's grave side realizing she could never say good-bye to him.

Being 8-9 years old, I hurt for my mom............but I didn't understand the "why" to her being so upset, at that time. I just knew that it meant something to her.

Paying tribute to fallen heroes has been something ingrained into my mind and heart since I was born. My uncle Albert Ray Hankins was killed in the Vietnam War on May 8th, 1971. That was really the bulk of information that my mom and aunt had on their brother until the early 1990's, it was about 4-5 years after our visit with the traveling memorial.

They were able to find some other pieces of information through the years, but they were finally able to get more solid information and clarity as to what, when, where, and how through another veteran as he was trying to finally address what was happening in his own life.

They found out that he was killed in a classified mission when his company was clearing out a landing / launching base. But it nearly took an act of congress for the veteran, helping them, to get information. As they got the information, I saw the "why" to the reason I had been ingrained with such a strong affinity for veterans. To see old wounds opened up and closure given to my mom's heart, broke mine........hell, it still does.

With every fallen soldier there is a family that grieves, a hole to fill, a story to tell, and scars that must be healed.

My heart breaks for every family that will never find out what happened to their loved one, and the surviving veteran who can never talk about it.

Care for the Wounded

http://theaveragehunter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/dreamstime_xs_20540653-300x200.jpg">The reality is not every wound heals, not every scar is visible, and wounded does not mean broken.

Some of the veterans need major medical care, and others just need to talk. From my grandfather who, served during the Korean War and has heart problems, to my neighbor who served in Iraq who has PTSD.

I just want to throw this out there, it isn't always about money being thrown at an issue........but it is always about the time you invest into the person.

As far as the medical part, these are the people that deserve to be the first seated at a restaurant, how much more have they eared the right to be taken care of fast, efficiently, and proactively when a medical issue arises. Which honestly pisses me off when it comes to what's going on at the VA, and has been going on for many years. This is a bi-partisan issue, it was created by both parties and it must be resolved by both parties.

Many of the veterans I have met and talked with, their thing is that they just want to talk with someone. Some want to share their stories about the guys who they served with, and others want to just talk about everyday life. My challenge to you is spend time talking with some veterans and let them guide the conversation, whether it's about old war stories, or it's about their kids little league team. Most of the veterans I've talked with love to tell stories, but almost always those stories are about someone other than themselves. Spend time with them.

Also, check into different programs that help out veterans. Many of these programs have an awesome mission to care for these guys in whatever manner they need to be cared for. Look into the Wounded Warrior Project, the HonorAir or Honor Flight program (name varies depending on city and region), and other organizations like that. Give your time, or money when you can.