by Mike Smith Wednesday is Veterans Day. We normally celebrate by thanking a veteran or current military member. But when you think of it, we really need to say thanks to more than just the veteran. Most of us never experience the long, sometimes dangerous, time away from home and family that military members endure. It creates hardships that few of us understand, even if we can sympathize. It’s extraordinarily difficult for servicemen and women to be gone for long periods of time. Missing holidays, milestones and the daily life of our families can be unbearable, even with technology that helps keep families connected. Beyond the obvious danger, contemplating how life back home moves ahead without you is simultaneously comforting and concerning.
Family members left behind sometimes feel — well — left behind. They must fill the void, manage the home, care for children and keep the family together while their deployed loved ones focus on their jobs. They live with an ever present fear, that frequently is masked by a brave façade, that their loved one will be hurt or return home so profoundly impacted by the experience that the person who comes home is vastly different from the one who left.
Military service is dangerous. Living with that fear can be exhausting and overwhelming. The reality of death or injury is never far from the minds of servicemen and women and their families. Military families always fear the car in the driveway and that knock on the door.
So this Veterans Day, we should take a moment to reflect on the incredible sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and the families who stay by them so that they can serve and protect us with honor.
The parents, spouses and closest loved ones deserve our gratitude. Their unconditional love and support keeps morale high even in the most difficult circumstances. We should recognize and thank the children who endure months away from parents and adapt to military life, which can require moving from place to place every few years. They too soldier on.
We should also thank those who console and help military families in times of despair and loss. From the military chaplains and local ministers, to the aid and human services personnel. And to the medical and mental health care workers who care for our wounded military members.
Even the politicians who think carefully and cautiously about sending troops into harm’s way — and support them in their preparation and again when they return home — deserve our thanks. We know these decisions can be the most trying of their time in office and trust they engage in thoughtful debate and with a strategy from military leaders to ensure success.
There is always more to do to support our veterans here at home. Some struggle with an inadequate health system, and suffer long waits and bogus statistics from a Veterans Affairs bureaucracy, and who experience mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence services that are inadequate and unacceptable. For these veterans, we should demand more.
We have many to thank on Veterans Day. Wednesday is our time to reflect upon what our armed forces, and their families, do for us in the face of adversity and without complaint.
To the brave men and women who serve, to your families and to the network of Americans who work diligently to provide the support each of you deserves: Thank you. Our nation is better, stronger and more secure because of your service. You are an example to us all.
Mike Smith was secretary of administration and secretary of human services under former Gov. Jim Douglas. He is the host of the radio program, “Open Mike with Mike Smith,” on WDEV. He is also a political analyst for WCAX-TV and WVMT radio and is a regular contributor to the Times Argus, Rutland Herald and Vermont Business Magazine.