Reflections On Veterans & Sons

There are a few places that I don't call home yet which I feel at home in. You know, the kind of places where you can walk right in the door, grab a cup of coffee, hang out with the guys and shoot the bu...... (uh--male counterpart to a cow), and feel as though you belong. The funny thing about it is that in most of these places I don't even know the other guys' names. That's not important. What is more important than your name in these places is where you served and how you served. You see, I like to hang out with Veterans--ya that's right--vets, whether they be the old salts who served aboard Coast Guard Cutters like me or soldiers, marines, flyboys, or those men and women who served in the Navy. These are the kind of people who energize me because these were the kind of people who gave up time with their families and in their hometowns living convenient and comfortable lifestyles to give themselves to a cause bigger than themselves in the service of our country. Most, if not all, put off college, careers, and courting for a time to answer Uncle Sam's call and we all are the better for it.

I raised my kids to appreciate not only our veterans but also the young and the old men and women who are presently wearing the uniform of this nation and proudly serving in time of war. They learned the lessons I taught them well and today I have one son serving in the Army in Iraq. Of course, I am a proud father. He is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Milton D. Waite, who served in WW2 in the Army Air Corp for several years before being shot down and becoming a POW until the war ended. He is also following in the footsteps of his great grandfather, Donald Waite, who was wounded in WW1 while serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army.

I hope Mark's time in the service will not be as eventful as his granddad and great granddad's was but I do hope it will be as profitable and as memorable. I trust that he will always enjoy the honor of being counted among those men and women who have served their country in uniform and who are doing so right now. As our Lord put it--"Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Not all veterans or servicemen and women have died in the service of their country--some haven't even come close. But all have given their lives in the sense of giving up comforts and conveniences, careers and college, and other things we so often take for granted to protect our opportunities to enjoy them.

Thus, the reason, I enjoy hanging out where old soldiers, sailors, marines and airdales hang out. And the reason why today--I had the distinct honor of hanging out in an Army Recruiting Office with my old friends, whose names I do not know, as my second son, Luke enlisted today as a combat medic.

Happy Veteran's Day!