On this Veterans' Day

take a moment and thank someone who served in our armed forces.  Maybe think also about the system of government we enjoy and what protecting that system has cost many vets.

Then take a deep breath and remind yourself that the system is strong and robust, stronger and more robust than any one person.

Thanks to the vets who paid--and are still paying

We should all take the opportunity today to thank the vets we know. Those who served in war paid a high price for doing their citizen's duty, and they are all still paying. I'd like to thank three different folks in this entry.

To my friend, Dave, I give my thanks for keeping it between the ditches even when going into them looked a lot less painful than motoring on. Dave's writing has helped a lot of fellow vets understand that they're not alone, that others do understand, and that though they may never again be who they were, they can spend a lifetime improving. I'm most particularly grateful for his friendship.

To my deceased stepfather, Edmund D. Livingston, Senior, I give my thanks for all the years of taking care of my mother, my brother, and my sister. Ed went ashore at Okinawa and watched as everyone around him was injured or killed. He was injured twice and carried shrapnel until the day he died. As I said at his wake, he wasn't my father--I was almost 17 when he and my mom married--but I would have been proud if he had been.

To Jester, a guy I know only in email, I give my thanks for holding it together and fighting every day not to use his training. We both know how easy that would be, but you are too strong, too good to give in. I thank you for putting back the tools of war, over and over and over.

Thank you, all.

Thank you, all who served.

Thank you, vets

I observed on a panel at World Fantasy Con that society creates a group of people to do the jobs normal folks don't want to do and arguably shouldn't have to do. The ability to avoid those jobs is, in fact, part of the fabric of society that lets people stay normal. Cops and firefighters are in that group.

Veterans are most definitely in that group.

I don't always agree with where we send our soldiers. I thought the Viet Nam war was senseless when it was going on, and I still think so. I don't believe we should have gone to war in Iraq.

I don't, though, blame the troops. They're men and women who served their nation the way they were brought up to believe was right, and they gave a great deal in that service; in far too many cases, they gave everything.

You can't ask for a better non-bloody representation of how crappy life as a soldier can be during war time than this photo at the bottom of this page on David Drake's site. Yes, that's a remarkably skinny Dave in Viet Nam on shit-burning detail.

Dave is my friend, and though he was lucky enough to survive the war, he still carries it with him every day. He always will.

My stepfather, Ed, went ashore at Okinawa. The pieces of shrapnel in his body were setting off metal detectors five decades later, but he'd tell you that was no big deal. If you listened closely and waited a long time, you could learn that he meant it, because those pieces of metal were far lighter and less troublesome burdens than the memories he also carried.

These and many other vets have touched my life personally. I owe them and all the other vets my gratitude. We all do. Today, let's be sure to pause for a moment and say, thank you.