Today is Veterans Day. It’s a holiday set aside to honor, support, and thank those who have served or are currently serving in the United States Military.
This holiday, originally named Armistice Day, began as a day to remember the end of World War I. It became veterans day in 1954.
On this day, I would like to pause to offer thanks to my husband, an active duty Chaplain in the Army. I don’t often think of him as a Veteran. I’m not sure why. But this morning as I was explaining the importance of this day to my children, I was struck by the importance of honoring our own Veteran.
My husband was an officer in the National Guard when we met seventeen years ago. In fact, our first date was breakfast at Cracker Barrel as he was on his way to take part in a training weekend eight hours away.
I never imagined then that we would be where we are now.
Shortly after we were married, my husband resigned as an officer in the National Guard. He came home from a drill weekend convinced that he could not be separated from me again. That seems so ironic now.
Five years after we were married, God called my husband back into the Army. This time not as an artillery officer in the National Guard, but as an Active Duty Chaplain in the United States Army.
He has a passion for serving soldiers that makes me incredibly proud. He has a desire to share God’s love, to share the truth of the Gospel with them. He has a calling to serve our country by serving her soldiers.
Keith deployed to Iraq when our firstborn twins were just six months old. He returned when they were eighteen months old.
He deployed to Iraq again just before our son turned a year old. We were stationed in Germany. That deployment was fifteen long months. He returned on Will’s second birthday.
Last week my daughter had to write an essay about a special memory. She wrote about her daddy coming home from his second deployment. She was four years old and had lived her life without the Daddy that she loved for over two of those years. Searching for his face among the soldiers who marched into the auditorium during his redeployment is a memory that will stay with her forever.
During Keith’s deployments, he conducted religious services for soldiers, he advised his commanders, he prayed for and with soldiers during struggles, and he conducted memorial services for soldiers who lost their lives during that time.
His deployments taught us a lot about sacrifice.
His service in the Army still teaches us about sacrifice, courage, and commitment.
I don’t often stop to think about those sacrifices. I don’t consider what he does, what we do as a family to be extraordinary. But, today, I am pausing to stop and consider. I am pausing to honor my veteran.
If you have a veteran in your life that you love, I urge you to do the same.
We live on a street, in a neighborhood on an Army post where there are American flags flying on almost every home. Every home is occupied by a veteran serving their country. Every home is occupied by veteran families sacrificing along with their soldier, loving them and supporting them.
To our neighbors and friends, I want to say thank you!
I have friends whose husbands have been changed by their time at war. They seem to be different people than they once were.
To those friends and their husbands, I want to say thank you!
Did you know that less than 0.5% of the population serves in the Armed Forces? That is a sobering statistic. It is hard to understand something that you are so removed from.
In light of that, I am grateful for each person who pauses today to consider the sacrifices of our veterans. For each of you that offers support or just a simple word of thanks, THANK YOU!
It is not expected, but it is received with humble gratitude.
Naomi says
Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful and thought provoking post! Thank you and your veteran for your service…we are blessed because of it.