Thinking About Military Things

So I spent yesterday and a good bit of today working on neatly combining all of the brilliant, encouraging, love-filled letters that I received while I was in basic training into one compilation binder.  (Yes, yes, I'm a little over-organized and anal sometimes, oops!)  However, over the course of this little project, I've mulled over a ton of different military things.  Military training, BCT memories, my current medical-military situation, my husband's current deployment, what our Army futures may or may not hold, how our friends are affected by their military realities, how my grandparents dealt with military life years ago, and, not the least of these thoughts,  how 9/11, 11 years ago, changed life in the service  for generations to come.  It entered us into a decade-long, and still raging, war, it boomed the numbers of men and women who stepped up to serve and sacrifice for their country,  and it reminded us what is really put on the line by our country's finest service members, not just military, but firefighters and law enforcement officers as well.  There are a lot of men and women, and their families, making sacrifices each and every day for this country's betterment.  Yet, if you have a conversation with most of them and try and thank them for their sacrifices, which I'm learning so many in this country aren't willing to make, they'll tell you, "It's just what I do".  And, speaking for Monkey and myself, it is just that, just what we do.  We go to work, we train hard, we carry more weight, literally, than we should, we travel from state to state and across the world, we spend months in separate, cold twin-size beds, and go weeks, or months, without communicating.  But it's just what we do.  And honestly, as long as we can talk, we love what we do.  We are proud as hell to put on the uniforms that we do everyday, and I'm sure so many of our fellow service members feel the same way.  So, even though they wouldn't want you to thank them, or make a big deal out of what they do everyday, think about them today.  Send up a few prayers and spread thoughts of good juju for the finest of men and women on a day that we will never forget.

By Maria Dryfhout