Thank You, Veterans!

To the frail gray geezer wasting away in a VA hospital and to his equally gray friends at the Legion preparing to mourn him; to the guy who bags groceries at the Commissary who lost his innocence in Saigon and his foot somewhere further north, to the lady down the street with a globe and fouled anchor tattoo you can't see, to the truck driver who had adventures in his youth and half-Korean kids to prove it, to the company CEO who put her GI Bill educational benefits to good use, to the bearded, homeless kook who pushes his life in a shopping cart, to the grimy, babyfaced 19-year-old Marine enjoying his first cigarette after clearing a tough neighborhood in Fallujah...thank you, veterans, for your service, for your sacrifice.

And to the United Services Organization, American Legion, AmVets, American Red Cross, and all the folks involved with these fine organizations, thank you, too!