Military & Law Enforcement
The military makes up less than one-half of 1 percent of the U.S. population. It is calculated that 7.3 percent of all living Americans have served in the military. As you can see, people serving, or who have served in the military is a small percentage of our population, yet they have made some of the greatest sacrifices for our freedom. It was my father that instilled in our family a sense of pride and thankfulness for our country. He said that the real heroes were those in the grave, those who gave their lives for their country. Indeed, those who have made the greatest sacrifice for our freedom lie silent in the grave.
I remember as a boy my father, who was a veteran of the battle of Iwo Jima, telling me about Audie Murphy when I saw him on TV. He was the most decorated veteran of WW2 and a Medal of Honor recipient. I just finished reading the book, Defend Us In Battle[1], about Navy Seal Michael Monsoor, a Medal of Honor recipient who sacrificed his life for his fellow warriors in Ramadi during the Iraq war. I have passed that book on to my oldest grandson and his dad to read and then they will pass it on to the other dads and grandsons in my family. I wrote notes in the book and of course marked out foul language, I want our men and boys to know about the men who gave of themselves to protect what we enjoy, our freedom. I read the book Flags of Our Fathers[2] and wept through it thinking about what my dad experienced at Iwo Jima. We as a nation should honor our combat veterans with the highest honor, they should be honored in our homes and never forgotten. They bear wounds that are not always visible, they willingly hazarded their lives for our freedom with brave and incredible acts of courage to protected our nation.
I remember my dad taking us to the annual parade during the Independence Day 4th of July celebration in our hometown. The parade would start on main street in Mt. Healthy Ohio, Hamilton Avenue, and then end up at the old Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Compton Rd. There veterans would play Taps and then do a 21-gun salute in honor of all the veterans buried there. Afterward we would scamper after the blank shells left on the gravel road running through the cemetery trying to retrieve one. The Mount Pleasant Cemetery is named after the original name of the town that changed to Mt Healthy in 1850. Dad wanted us to understand and appreciate those who served our country. He wanted us to understand the connection between celebrating Independence day, and the preservation of our freedom by those who served in the military. We were taught to show respect for our country and those who served our country to preserve our freedom.
We looked up to anyone who had served in the military, of course most fathers of dad’s generation were veterans of WW2. My grandfather Zimmerman was born in 1890 and was drafted into the Army September 22nd 1917 and served in combat in WW1. My Grandfather Hilgeman was born in 1899 and served in WW2, my uncles were all WW2 combat veterans, and a cousin was a Vietnam combat veteran. Later my brother and I served during peace time and one of my nephew’s was a Desert Storm combat veteran. Those who served our country in combat were especially honored for defending our country in battle. I remember my mother talking about losing friends in WW2, and how the women in our family agonized over what was going on with their husbands, never knowing where they were or how they were doing. They suffered a different kind of endurance during the war. Often one of my uncles who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and dad would talk in front of us about their experiences. As kids it seemed like they were giants, I wish I could remember all of their stories.
Those of us who make up the non-combat veterans were tasked with maintaining the peace. When a person enlists, they give their life, typically their youth away for however many years they enlist. I read somewhere that, “A Veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America’ for an amount of ‘up to and including their life.” We should be thankful for those who are willing to hazard their lives for our freedom as well as trade their youthful years to guard our country. Being away from home, leaving behind so much for so many years, so that others can stay at home and live comfortably and safely, should cause us to be grateful for those who have served. You give your youth away in many respects when you go into the military, but you gain far more experience, knowledge, and insight, than you would in many other settings.
There are those serving now and shouldering the load of military life. They have unique challenges related to being in the military. Marriage can be very difficult while serving in the military, deployments, military demands and commitments, and a host of other factors play into straining a marriage while in the military. It can be stressful on a family. “Military life can be very stressful on families. Long separations, frequent moves, inconsistent training schedules, late nights in the office and the toll of mental and physical injuries on both the service member and the family can all add up over time.” Everyone sacrifices in some way being in a military family. https://www.military.com/spouse/relationships/military-family-life-101.html
My last year in the military was the first year of our marriage, I lost 4 months of our first year of marriage to a “surprise” deployment. Afterward we were only back for a month or so when we had to go to the Philadelphia naval shipyard to go into drydock for repairs. There I was stuck in the shipyard some 61/2 hours away from Norfolk VA where we lived. I tried to go home every weekend but it was very difficult with fluctuating duty on weekends, and other responsibilities, as well as the cost. They didn’t pay much in the military in those days. I was finally discharged at the Philadelphia naval shipyard about three or four months later. In four years of service I did three, six to seven month deployments in the Mediterranean Sea, and then a four month African, South American deployment, not including the other “short” deployments. Yes! Being away from wife and family was very hard. As they say, “ships are made for sailing and sailors are made for the sea”! I was done with sea time!
Some have and will be deployed for a year or more to an assignment. Military moms are left with the heavy load of caring for the family during deployments, dads miss periods of time when their children are growing up, going to school, participating in normal family life and activities. Still others have been in combat zones that exact heave tolls on their hearts and minds, a far greater sacrifice than we recognized in our combat veterans. I should know, I lived with a combat veteran growing up, his experience took an awful toll out on both him and his family. My mother, two brothers, and two sisters, lived with a man who could not shake the awful experience of brutal combat, he lived that war out the remainder of his life and we lived it out with him, it took a toll out on him and on his family. It’s not easy being a combat veteran or being in his family, especially if he is really struggling. It’s not easy being in the military, being married in the military creates different kinds of challenges. Pray for our military and marriages in the military.
Pray for those who are single as well. I experienced loneliness as a single in the military. Although you are around a lot of people there is a sense of isolation. The base or the ship, or what have you is your community, but it isn’t your family, you really miss your loved ones. This can sometimes be draining, you live on the ship, its where you work, its where life happens, the environment is different than your 8 to 5 civilian job. Your missing your family, your living far away, your being deployed, you’re on 24hr duty, standing that watch, not leaving the ship, all of this has its challenges.
Thankfully I occupied my time with Christian friends as well as a church that had a Christian servicemen’s center when I was able to get off the ship. It was hard to get off the ship and get to church at times, or to the servicemen’s center because of the lack of transportation, but somehow we managed to find a way when we could. You can’t just have a car and leave it sitting on base while you are deployed, so not everyone had transportation. Thankfully at times we were able to find rides and get away from military life, if only for a few hours. Today I am sure it is much the same. Be sure to pray for singles in the military with their unique challenges as well.