To Those In and Out of Uniform...

My name is Ron, and I live on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. I have a white beard and, like many of my age, I have little time left to speak of minor matters. Bob, my blog partner and I, both have Vietnam Service Ribbons on our Class A’s, and that means what matters today is Veteran’s Day. Today all of us stand a little taller, whether in uniform or out.
I’m sure Bob will describe his dad, Rocky, but today I need to mention that he was a Pearl Harbor survivor. It turned out that the Axis Club made a fatal mistake on December 7, 1941. Germany was trying to swallow the Russian elephant, Japan was trying to swallow the China elephant and Japan, consumed by hubris, decided to, just for good measure, kick the American giant. Why not? It was a fractious and divided country and, for goodness sakes, the Commander-In-Chief was an old man in a wheelchair.
On that fateful Sunday, some Zeros strafed Rocky and some GI pals on their way to breakfast. Japan’s Hirohito saw the future: “I fear all we have done is wake a sleeping giant.” I know the strategic linkages of World War II are more complex than what I’ve just described but to Rocky, Bob and I, those links became more personal, more individual, after Bob and I met in college.
In 1970, I was a First Lieutenant in the Infantry, commanding a rifle company in Vietnam. After eight months in combat, I was wounded, losing a leg, and soon evacuated to a U.S. Army hospital in Japan. The Army notified my family, but they were told little else. My mother, understandably, was beside herself with worry.
She called one of my college friends to tell them what had happened to me and one of them called Bob. Bob called Rocky, who knew a guy at the Pentagon who could find anyone, anywhere. Rocky would, each day, update Bob, who would call my mother every day. Our family’s bond, and Bob’s and mine, became lifelong from that one loving act.
Why does that matter the most to me today? Because it personifies the same trust each man and woman in uniform has in every other American who’s buttoned their Class A’s, straightened their tie, stood at attention with their brothers and sisters and saluted the American flag. We’ve shared those moments, all of us. 
And we know that when we or our families, our wives and orphans need a hand, it’s right there.
We are American veterans. Happy Veterans Day.
Ron

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