Honoring Vetrans Day

As we are completing the run to conclude Warrior Day, all I can think to myself is, “We are preparing for war. To give our lives and protect our comrades to protect the civil liberties of our country.” Every year Air Force ROTC Detachment 875 conducts a day full of military exercises around the Virginia Tech campus, which are meant to challenge our units, practice leadership and followership skills, and to build camaraderie. Our cadets are forced to think outside the box and to problem-solve with the situations they are given. A bit of endurance is also tested throughout the day because the cadets have to run from station to station, all over campus.

Why do we do this? Cadets and active military personnel practice day in and day out for wartime scenarios, but at the end of the day what happens during war is unpredictable. There is not a playbook. We train leaders to be thought-provoking, loyal, and to possess Warrior ethos. A soldier can only be optimistic when they are called into being deployed for war. Thoughts race through their head, such as:

“Am I truly prepared?”

“How long will I be gone?”

“Will I make it back to my family?”

As these thoughts are racing, they try to stay positive. Inevitably they remember their why and the reason why they are actually going to war: To protect the freedoms of our country and those civil liberties which we embody. The soldiers remember the training they have completed under their branches, and call onto those lessons to get them through their deployment.

While soldiers today have the choice of joining the Armed Forces, that right has not always been available to the citizens of the United States during wartime. During World War I and the Korean War, the United States held a draft, also known as conscription, for men between the ages of 18-45. The men were given a number and if their number was chosen they had to go to war; no choice granted. Three of the most brutal wars the US has faced have been: World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. World War I had a total of roughly 320,518 soldiers; World War II had 1,076,245; and the Korean War left 128,650 soldiers either wounded or dead. Just think about how many families were affected from those three wars alone.

On November 11, 1919, the United States recognized “Armistice Day” as the anniversary of the end of World War I. In 1926, Congress passed a resolution that the day be observed annually. Beginning in 1938, November 11 became a national holiday to pay tribute to veterans, both living and dead, who have served their country during war and peacetime. President Dwight D. Eisenhower later changed “Armistice Day” to “Veterans Day.”

Today, there are more than 21 million veterans in the U.S. (about 6.5 percent of the total population). Our veterans come from all types of different backgrounds and walks of life. Most U.S. citizens probably come in to contact with at least one to two veterans every day. When you cross paths with a veteran today, simply relay a “Thank you for your service.” I guarantee your recognition will go a long way for that veteran.