I am a veteran. I served in the United States Air Force during the late 1980s. I served for 4 years. My job was to paint airplanes and support equipment in basically a 9-5 job. I was never in danger and never faced the enemy in combat. Overall, at the time, it was just a job with a college benefit after 4 years of service.
I joined the United States Air Force because, as a poor kid, I had nowhere else to go and because it gave me an opportunity to go to college. I didn’t join because I was a patriot. I didn’t join to make the world safe for democracy. I didn’t join to beat our enemies. My enlistment was for completely selfish reasons.
My job was uninteresting, the food was barely acceptable, and the pay was not very good, but I had no rent or food bills, so the beer and gas money were pretty good for an 18-year-old kid. I wasn’t even a good airman; I got in stupid trouble, like doing a burnout at the front gate.
I am not a hero; I was just some dumb 18-year-old kid pursuing a dream. I did my 4 years, got what I could, and moved on just like millions of other veterans.
So why have a day to honor all veterans? Why not just a day to honor combat veterans and career servicemen?
For decades after I separated, I honored veterans but always felt like a poser. I have done well in life over the past 30 years and am living the American dream that other servicemen secured for me with their very lives.
It took me a while to realize that my path was pure luck. In wartime, the expected lifespan of my PPIF unit was 30 minutes. Had I enlisted 6 months earlier or 6 months later, I would have been deployed to a war zone, and you would be honoring me as a hero who gave my life for my country. My dull painting job would have saved the lives of numerous pilots and hundreds of millions in equipment by providing them with camouflage.
After you enlist, you quickly learn in basic training that your life is now in the hands of the United States government. But they do give you an out, not an easy one but enough for cowards to bail. After basic training, you are bound by contract and by oath to a contract that includes a blank check for everything up to and including your life. Veterans are honored for this very reason: the willingness for any reason to sacrifice all.
When you separate, your contract ends, but your oath is forever, and you take that oath to the grave. Because of this oath, every veteran stands as the last line of defense for our democracy and the American way of life.
So to all my fellow veterans, this day is for you because regardless of how much you gave, you stepped up and contributed.