My mind recalls a soldier standing in front of me. His hands are extended open and up to me in a helpless frustration. We’re on a runway soon to return home. He is saying, "I didn’t fire one shot. What good did it do for me to come here! I didn’t kill anyone." I hear myself saying "Consider yourself lucky." One of my first counseling sessions in combat and yet not far from where I entered the C-130 several days ago to pray for wounded soldiers returning to Bragg. I see zipped in the bags were the bodies of a Company Commander and his First Sergeant. Sitting beside the bodies were the wounded, who fired everything they had … ran out of ammo and it still did no good. Heads drooped in a terrible deep sadness. And I ask, "Lord, does anyone know what Veterans go through this day. Those who through guilt feel they did not give enough … and those, who gave all they had … and know it was not enough." God listens.
O.K. Push ups, Sit-ups. Weights. More stretches. Cool down time. Ooh… Lord it is all so beautiful and so quiet. Be with our soldiers today Lord. Be with our Airmen. Be with our sailors … today where ever they are at. You know where they are at Lord. Watch over them.
The water is so warm. Soap smells so good. Lord, I hope they have hot water this morning. Give them something good to eat. Wherever they stand for Chow Lord. Give them something good.
Traffic is light this morning. Going to be a quick ride in Lord. Cell phone ringing. It must be Juliette … "Dad, what are you going in for? Today is Veteran’s Day. You have the day off." We just laughed together at myself. Well, I’m up. I’m dressed. Had great PT with the Lord. Good Day to catch up on some work. I’m on my way in.
Pulling up to the gate guard I realized that he did not have a Veteran’s Day off either. We talked a while. Easing up on the clutch my mind moved forward to those who were standing watch over us today … the policemen, firemen, and hospital staff. They didn’t have a Veteran’s Day off. Then I understood that we are all quickly becoming veterans of this war … the families, the communities and the churches. We are all becoming veterans together in this experience. All one.
What makes a Veteran? The common experience of having been there together … caring for those around you … and you can’t stop caring anymore than you can stop being there. You will go back. There are those who say it is not good to go back. I do not believe in this. For I say you must go back. You must remember.
For you see there are Veterans, who go back regularly, but can not talk of it. Go back they do and go back they will. The costly experience is so etched in their souls that they seek some form of relief and understanding. I pray that all veterans will come to this place of healing in themselves as I have … that they will remain more in the present than in the past. I pray that if they must go back … that it is only for a moment to remember faces of those they served with and ask the questions. I pray that if they choose to go back … that they take God as I did this morning. Do not be alone and do not stay long. For you see … we still need you. For we need you to help us remember… less we forget.
And for those, who have not returned to us in body, we say a prayer for you on this Veterans Day and wait to see you again soon. We hold dear the promise that "the dead in Christ shall rise first … and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thess 4:16-17). We hold onto the hope in Revelation…"And I saw the dead …stand before God…and the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death…delivered up the dead" (20: 12-13). We’ll see you again … and we promise to remember you.