Sacrifice

Tuesday my youngest son will be going up to the MEPs station in Kansas City and signing up to be in the United States Army.  He is choosing to go and I am so proud of him.  I have never forced my sons to follow my example and join the military and yet each of them did of their own accord.  My oldest is in the United States Air Force and currently in Great Falls, Montana guarding missile silos.  He is on orders to go to portugal in December and is very excited about the opportunity.  My second son is in the United States Army in Hawaii working with computers.  It is time for him to reenlist and he is exploring his options.  I am extremely proud of these three young men.  They have made it their responsibility in life to serve and possibly fight to protect our rights.  I was reading my copy of the Army Times this morning and started looking at the pictures of the fallen fromour war on terror.  I only looked at the Operation Iraqi Freedom pictures since that is where I served so much of my time.  Most people might know one or two people who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.  It was an emotional morning as I counted the number of fallen who I had served with and knew personally.  An Infantry platoon has 30 people in it and there are 3 Infantry platoon's in an Infantry company.  You can see by this example that when I say I knew and served with 58 people who have paid that sacrifice I am referring to almost two thirds of an Infantry company.  It makes me very sad, guilty, proud, and relieved all at the same time.  Knowing that there are men and women such as those who paid that sacrifice who willing join the military each and every day.  I know this because I have known three of these individuals for all of their lives and would gladly stand by their sides any day of the week.  I know that by my sons joining the military that they have placed themselves into the breach to defend our freedoms.  I know that at any time their time on this earth could come to an end and yet you can't deny that they enjoy each and every day of what they are doing.  I am the same as any parent out there who would gladly change places with the ones they love if they are in harms way but my heart beats proudly knowing that I have such strong sons to carry on the mission of defending this great nation.  I hope other people realize the sacrifices that our young men and women go through in order for you to go about your daily lives.