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Today is, of course Veteran’s Day. In the past few years, it’s been news when Google broke with their tradition of not acknowledging the holiday and actually altered their logo. However, the holiday means a little more to me than that. So, I did what writers do. The results are below.

There’s a distinct chill in the air that marks as official the descent of fall onto central Virginia. I know this because today I am not in one of 130 other countries around the world, countries ranging from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, countries which all have American soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen stationed there. Today I am not hunched under a poncho while on guard duty. Today I am not sprawled out on a cot as comfortable as concrete trying to grab some shuteye. Today I am not patrolling through the streets of a foreign town with a rifle in my hands. Today I am not subjected to any of these things because there are millions of others who volunteered to take my place.

Today, Veteran’s Day, is that day in which we thank those who have served on our behalf, those who volunteered, those who fought. And though I cannot speak on behalf of the rest of the veterans out there, I can speak on my own behalf. You see, five years ago, I was those boots on the ground. I was patrolling those foreign streets with a rifle in my hand. I did learn to sleep on those cots that seemed to have concrete aspirations. I learned a great deal. About war. About death. About life. About friendship. About meaning.

Self Portrait August 2003

And in the years since, I’ve learned that it is not easy being a veteran, especially not at this time of year. Veteran’s Day sits at the onset of a very dark stretch of time for deployed service members, that bit of the calendar in which families start to gather for Thanksgiving, and generally stay in touch the New Year. As a vet, as someone who has been there, it’s painful to know throughout the globe there are those who are walking in the same boots I walked in are also going through that longing for friends, family, cheer, warm drinks, Christmas lights.

There is an empathy of common suffering that exists between soldiers, an understanding that starts with basic training. Soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen know that despite what might appear to be differences, despite personal quibbles, that two people in uniform have endured the same general hardships, they’ve passed the same tests, and they stand together as general equals. It is this sense of suffering that separates a veteran from a civilian when that uniform eventually comes off. That empathetic bond is something that veterans are better off for having, and when push comes to shove, it’s what gets us through wars.

You see, the men and women on the ground are brutally aware that war is not about politics. It might seem that way when viewed through a television screen or a newspaper but that’s because war is something that’s far too abstract to understand if you haven’t actually been to war. For those on the ground, the reason to fight is much more easily defined; it is to maintain the bond that exists between those to their left and their right, those who have suffered like they have, and those they have shared experiences with. Those are the only things that matter when war puts lives on the line.

So today Americans are supposed to thank our veterans. We’re supposed to think of the myriad romantic sacrifices, the moments of great hardship, the speeches. But, as just one vet, I say don’t do that. Yes, by all means, say thank you to a veteran. Understand that after seven years of constant war, that there are likely veterans all around you. Many of us have come home, some with open scars, some missing limbs. Some have deep psychological demons. Some managed to make it out without so much as a scratch. Each of us fought a different war, no two experiences seemingly the same. Yet we are all joined by that bond of common suffering, especially those of who have yet to return.

As just one of the twenty five million or so living US veterans, I guess all I can really say is that you’re welcome.

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