11/11
Veteran's Day was instituted after World War I. I knew a WWI vet once, but the last of those old soldiers died this year. Most of the vets I knew growing up had been in WWII. If you see someone today who is apparently in their eighties, you might hear some real stories if you politely ask them where they were during 'the War.'
War is an exteme to which we should go ONLY when the issue is that important and no other option is left us. But it is a voluntary hell that citizens travel to in defense of their nation, with the possibility of never returning to the life they are fighting to preserve.
While the modern wars are not ones that are affecting U.S. domestic life the way World War II did, to those who are engaged in it, the sacrifices are as great as ever.