Veterans Day 2017

A Veterans Day 2017 Address

The fall is a time when we reflect on the year behind us. The change of seasons and onset of winter’s cold weather just ahead suggest a reason to pause, and to think back over the past months and to the promise of a new year and a spring season ahead.

For the same reason, November 11 - Veterans day is when we should pause to remember those among us who chose to put themselves in harm’s way, so that others might remain safe.

This day, the 99th anniversary of the First World War end, marks of the close of ‘The War to end all Wars’. Our gratitude for our veteran’s military service extends to those among us here today, and to the tens of millions of men and women who have served in the defense of our nation since 1918.

For those veterans who have passed, we may tend to reflect on their lives as if they were grown men and women while serving. In fact, these soldiers, nurses and staff were in their teens and early adulthood. Many were taken in their youth, sacrificing their future of family, friends and freedom. They willingly sacrificed their future to secure the futures of citizens at home.

For those veterans among us today, we owe a debt of gratitude. Many of today’s veterans expect no special recognition of their service or commitment. They consider it as simply paying it forward. Some veterans believe they should remain silent regarding their military service, unable or unwilling to disclose to others the details of conflicts recorded in their memory. And still others operate within their daily lives carrying burdens of residual traumatic injury, both visible and invisible.

Our enemies seem to invent new and more potent threats to our nation and our citizens each day. Modern technology has made our lives infinitely easier, but likewise has made it easier for our foes to repurpose it, and interfere with our nation’s peace and security. For those of you like myself who did not wear the uniform, special thanks are owed to our active military serving here and abroad keeping our nation safe in the face of these threats.

Strong divisions are evident in our national politics. Now, strong disagreement in political conversation is completely natural, and we have the right to speak our minds any way we wish. But open disrespect for the standards that bind us creates the potential for disrespecting those who defend these standards. Our veterans and their service to our nation are one of the few remaining subjects of conversation that must be due our highest honor and respect.

For our veterans with us here today, thank you again for your service. We put our great nation at risk when we forget to honor the principles you have stood to defend.