In a superficial world where professional athletes and Hollywood actors are seen as heroes, Veterans Day exists to remind us that real heroes wore combat gear and kept America free.
Veterans literally put their lives on the line for this country, so it's only right that they be celebrated for their service. Some of them are veterans who have said goodbye to their families for deployment. Possibly multiple deployments – and who fought against brutal fascists in World War II, were often overlooked for holding their ground in Korean, dodged Viet Cong attacks by crawling under live ammunition in the jungles of Vietnam, and fought IEDs and bombs in Afghanistan. He lived and breathed in an extremely dangerous environment of suicide bombers. And Iraq.
They have returned home, but at a price incomprehensible to civilians who complain about the minutiae of daily life.
Veterans who did not see combat are heroes as well. Because they willingly put on military uniforms and underwent basic and specialized training so that they could participate in combat if called upon.
If you take the time to sit down with a veteran and talk about his military service, whether he was in the Navy in the brown seas being strafed in Vietnam or sitting on a big ship in the blue seas, he will tell you from the dangers of naval combat. You can see that I was far away. It breaks his heart that even after the Viet Cong attack, the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., prevented the U.S. military from winning.
If you have ever had the privilege of speaking with a prisoner of war held by fascists in World War II and subjected to unspeakable inhumane treatment, you will find that they brush aside any praise and say, “I was only doing my duty.'' ” you must remember saying. Perhaps you remember their eyes fixating on something in the distance, or something unfolding in their head as if it were happening right now. And they talk fondly about what it means to form and protect a group of brothers.
I'm sure these are things that civilians, myself included, cannot fully understand. But I also believe that these are things we should be proud of and be grateful for. These are the reasons we take the time to walk up to our veterans and say “thank you.”
Friends, freedom is not, and never has been, freedom.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and also writes Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment for Breitbart News. He is also a writer and curator. He is a political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a professional staff member for Pulsar Night Vision, and global marketing director for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in military history. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. To get Down Range, you can sign up at breitbart.com/downrange. Contact him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
