Top 3 2nd Place Essay: "Why do veterans deserve our support, respect and understanding?"

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Shawn Byers
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  (Editor's note: Earlier in the year, the 512th Top 3 Association held an essay contest, awarding 3rd and 2nd place finalists with gift cards, and the first place winner received a free mess dress uniform. Leading up to Veterans Day 2011, one of these essays will be posted each day.)

Why do veterans deserve our support respect and understanding? At first glance this seems like an easy question to answer. I can only speak for myself when I say veterans deserve not only our respect and understanding but our gratitude as well.

If it weren't for the countless sacrifices of our veterans preserving our freedom and our way of life, I couldn't fathom where our society would be today.

Our veterans have fought, and continue to fight, for ideals that they may not agree with, nor completely understand. They are ridiculed, humiliated and in most cases forgotten. Fallen veterans get merely a mention on the evening news nowadays, if they even get that much. Many of our veterans are in poor health; some are homeless; or struggling mightily just to make ends meet. These are the same people who answered our nation's call, and they put themselves in harm's way to protect society's right to call them "baby killers," "warmongers" and other derogatory terms in protest.

As veterans, they swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We call America the "land of the free," although many have forgotten the responsibility of keeping it that way rests firmly on the broad shoulders and thick skin of our veterans, past and present.

Society as a whole will never truly understand the cost of service. Veterans are often separated from loved ones and perform their duties in conditions that most people would consider reprehensible.
 
It takes a special person to willingly put others' needs ahead of themselves. For this reason, I have made the decision to attempt to live my life worthy of their sacrifice.