F. David Shelene

They wondered why more weren’t on their side. Every single time they fought they were outnumbered. Their cause was right and just. However people thought that winning a war against the most powerful nation on earth was impossible. People were afraid.

Still they enlisted and fought a revolution and won. The result of that conflict was The United States of America.

Not many were on their side in this latest effort in Iraq either. Still, they went and fought and quickly won against a brutal dictator.

I am talking of course about our Veterans, both alive and those who have passed on who over the years have fought one way or another for freedom.

A Republican controlled Congress recently voted to cut Veteran’s benefits.

They deserve better. They deserve more, not less. They need to know we are proud of them. It’s the least we can do.

We have studied in our history books how our Revolutionary War solders fought England and won our independence and freedom.

We have watched during WW I as they fought bloody trench battles for weeks against an army bent on dominating Europe.

We have watched during WW II as they fought to stop the holocaust and the evil dictators who directed it in their effort to rule the world. Imagine if someone like Hitler had obtained nuclear weapons.

We have watched in Korea where they successfully fought to stop the South Koreans from being overrun by communists from the largest country on earth, China.

We have watched in Viet Nam while, with one hand tied behind their back by politics, they still defeated a determined enemy on the battlefield. Losing no major battles to the North, it was politics that cost the South Vietnamese their freedom, not a failure of our fighting men and women, as some would have you believe.

We have watched both Gulf wars as our service men and women quickly defeated a large army that only a few years before, had fought a 7-year war with Iran. Iraq had fielded armies of 100,000 men and fought Iran to a standstill, yet they wilted under pressure from our Veterans.

We have watched smaller conflicts in many other places as our Veterans, with dedicated service, have taken our cause for freedom again and again to someone who has never known it or has had it taken away.

We may never know or understand the sacrifice they made to do the things they have done, and in some cases are still doing.

Leaving loved ones for months and sometimes years is a huge sacrifice that they all have had to make. Sitting in a hole dug in the ground through every kind of weather, standing watch on board a ship for hours, working for countless hours on the machinery it takes to overthrow tyranny, and operating that machinery all required great sacrifice.

Their families at home sacrificed also, more than most will ever know.

They have made us all very, very proud! Whether they fought in a war, or stood guard over the folks at home.

WE, SALUTE YOU, OUR VETERANS!

NO ONE GAVE MORE.

NO ONE DESERVES REWARD MORE!