“When I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for me?” And I said, “Here I am, Send me!”

— Isaiah 6:8.

“The United States of America, as a nation, sleeps peaceably at night because we as a military stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

— George Orwell

Veterans have served from before this country was born.

They are a part of a sacred Brotherhood, the Brotherhood of War.

Multitudes of man and women have served as veterans with distinction and valor. Veterans answer the call without hesitation when asked by this country, for its war efforts. They answer the cry of humanity, at the threshold of existence. This cry required many to serve in the bowels of human thought, emotion and action, against the cause of human depravity as experienced in theaters of combat operations.

Many served on the front lines, where sheer determination propelled them through cold, wet and heartlessly unforgiving pushes forward. They moved for hours and even days through frigid temperatures, blazing suns, breathtaking wind-swept sandstorms and torrential downpours. Drained of all their energy, only to still have to meet and defeat a newly refreshed enemy. They serve from deep beneath the oceans to high above the tallest mountains. They meet the enemy in the bright of day and in the dark of night. Many drive in non-stop convoys (Red-Ball Express WWII), delivering critical supplies to the battlefield lines which proved to be very fluid in nature due to Mechanized Infantry’s constant push against Axis weaknesses. Or the countless convoys supplying bullets, beans and bulk fuel, through Iraq and Afghanistan under constant barrage or threat thereof by al Qaeda and their sympathizers through direct action, IEDs and VBIEDs. Many served in the Forgotten War (Korea) in such extreme cold conditions that when facing the enemy they had to urinate on their weapons just to keep them firing (Battle of The Chosin Reservoir). No matter what their job, veterans have done it and many times more than their job.

From the grasses of Bunker Hill to Utah and Omaha beaches, to Mazar-e-Sharif and Baghdad’s Greene Zone (Babylon);

From the USS Constitution to the USS Missouri and the USS Cole;

From the Doolittle Raid to Puff the Magic Dragon to the logistical Air Bridge;

From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli;

From Coast to Coast and the Persian Gulf;

Many served and in good repair came home;

Many came home and still fight the battle to this day;

Many fought the battle and now we lower Colors and play “Taps” for them;

Many never physically made it home (POW/MIA).

Today’s soldier serves in an all-volunteer force, swear an oath to a living document called the Constitution. The battlefield has transformed from linear with trench-warfare into a non-linear multi-dimensional, ever-changing, fluid motion, capable of vaporizing from one locale and condensing into another. It is more than just multiple fronts. It is simultaneously sequenced events. It is like something that mutated from having mere length, width and depth into something that has many spheres containing a gyroscopic capability, self-evident in each entity (terrorist cells & lone wolfs).

The United States of American is one of few countries in all of humanity having a bedrock of laws established, through self-evidence, the recognition of each life as being of infinite and transcendent value in God’s sight.

Veterans are one of the few bridges this country has connecting generations to each other.

Our nation must learn from them about the past in order to protect the present generation, thus preserving the future generations for war, in order to secure America’s present freedom.

Written and dedicated to all veterans. Specifically dedicated to SPC4 Phillip T. Parmeter, Tanker, U.S. Army (deceased, older brother); CW3 Robert P. Leaver UH-1 (Huey) pilot, died on training flight at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, 1997; CW2 Scott Jamar UH-60L (Black Hawk) pilot, died on mission during invasion of Iraq, 2003; Sgt. Katina Hill, UH-60L (Black Hawk Medevac) flight medic, died in 2009 from abdominal wounds suffered when the Black Hawk she was a flight medic and crew member in was evacuating wounded in Afghanistan and hit the mountainside in 2003.

— Written by SSG (Ret.) Aaron Parmeter 15T20Q2, UH-60A/L,

Black Hawk Crew Chief & 88M30, Motor Transport Operator

Republished from 2017