Memorial Day 2008

[prader]

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This reminds me of a time back when I was an operational manager for a local company. One of the guys on my team happened to be a Vietnam Veteran and we got to talking one day. When he found out I was a Desert Storm era veteran (as opposed to a Desert Storm Vet- I thought I was heading to an Airborne Unit out of Vicenza to be re-deployed to Iraq shortly thereafter, the Army had other plans though, and I wound up learning a thing or two about counter-terrorism in Germany instead) his eyes turned red, very nearly tearing up, as he said probably the most heartfelt "Thank You" I have ever received.

A bit taken aback by this, I asked him what on earth he could possibly be thanking me for.

He looked at me with his eyes continuing to tear up and said these words that I'll quite possibly never forget:

"Because you guys vindicated us."

Then, as now, I cannot begin to express my sense of wrongness about this... but I accepted his expression of gratitude as gracefully as I could.

Today I would like to pass along that gratitude, combined with my own, to every current active duty member and veteran out there who reads this.

Thank you.