A Vet's Reflections

When they ask the veterans to stand in church – and other public places – I never like to. My children give me a hard time about this. “You’re a vet too, Mom. Why don’t you stand up? You aren’t ashamed of it, are you?” On the contrary, I think serving our country is one of the finest things a person can do, but like James Bradley in Flags of Our Fathers, I don’t think I did anything special. Except of course that he really did do something special and I, on the other hand, know that I didn’t. I just did my job and for that I received a paycheck. It was a simple economic exchange, just like any other job.

But is that true?

Do I really know that? And is any job, just ‘a job’? Isn’t everything we do, how we do it, far more than what we do?

One of the first things I learned as a young lieutenant is that I rarely got recognized, much less noticed, the times I went all out, but I sometimes received awards and notice when I hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. I suppose that knowledge could have made me cynical, but I decided to look at it pragmatically, figuring there is some sort of rough justice in it all and we don’t work for awards anyway. We work for the certain knowledge it’s the right thing to do. We work for God . . . and country. In other words, we follow the first and second commandments.

I had the distinct pleasure of serving my country from 1979 through 1991, through the Cold War, Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I spent nine of my thirteen years of active service overseas and while it was far from glamorous or glorious, I never dreamed how much I would miss it when it was all over. The camaraderie is like nothing you will ever find elsewhere, the opportunities to learn –and fail—are endless, as are the chances to try new things, go all over the world and yet truly find what you are made of inside. The military was the best choice I could have made right out of college and I have no regrets, except that I didn’t do more for my country. I was – am – far too selfish. I was told that I needed to “watch out for myself”, to protect myself from ‘the system’. Perhaps I did. But, God save us from an entire unit, squadron or more of individuals with that attitude.

Today my daughters’ school had a nice tribute to Veterans. The Junior R.O.T.C. stood in formation, the colors were brought in, some decorated Vets were given special honors and the choir sang a medley of the military service songs. And when the familiar words were sung, “Off we go, into the wild blue yonder…” I stood up. I can’t tell you how proud I am—of my country, and how blessed I know myself to be—to have served her in this small way. But mostly, I am grateful to all who have worn and continue to wear the United States military uniform.

God bless the men and women serving on active duty, their families and the country we are all blessed to live in!

Here are the first verses (and refrains where applicable) of each of the military services’ songs:

U.S. Air Force
Off we go, into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun.
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
At 'em boys, give 'er the gun.
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,
Off with one hell-uv-a roar!
We live in fame or go down in flame,
Nothing'll stop the U.S. Air Force.


U.S. Army
First to fight for the right,
And to build the nation's might.
And the Army goes rolling along.
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting until the battle's won.
And the Army goes rolling along.

Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army is on its way,
Count off the cadence loud and strong
For where'er we go,
You will always know,
That the Army goes rolling along.


U.S. Coast Guard
From Aztec shore to Arctic zone,
To Europe and Far East.
The flag is carried by our ships,
In times of war and peace.
And never have we struck it yet,
In spite of foe-men's might,
Who cheered our crews and cheered again,
For showing how to fight.


U.S. Marine Corps
From the halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli
We will fight our country's battles
In the air, on land and sea.
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean.
We are proud to claim the title of,
United States Marines.


U.S. Navy
Stand, Navy, out to sea, fight our battle cry;
We'll never change our course,
So vicious foe steer shy-y-y-y
Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh. Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh.
Farewell to college joys, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay.
Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more. Here's wishing you a happy voyage home.

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