Vets Have Talent!

Today’s message is for all military veterans, but primarily for those of you who have officially concluded your military service. If you are still serving, there’s stuff in here for you as well. One day you, too, will take off the uniform. Believe me - I know. After 31 years on active duty, I am now a civilian as of August 2005.

Vets have talent.

The above statement is absolutely true, but hugely underestimated for its degree of truth. Many, if not most, Americans have no real concept or appreciation for the abilities of individual veterans, nor for the collective skills and capabilities of the massive vet population in the United States.

Veterans, this is not a knock on our nation or the American people at large. It’s also not a reason for you to feel sorry for yourselves or become bitter. Nor is it a reason to give in and fail to become all you can be in this life. It’s none of these things.

Rather, it’s a wake-up call for veterans across our land to step up and assume their rightful places in American society. When you entered duty in your respective branch of military service, America needed you and your unique skills and capabilities. You served well and faithfully, and contributed to maintaining the freedoms this great nation still continues to enjoy. Thank you.

Some of you may recall the draft invoked by Uncle Sam during the Viet Nam War. Joining the military via the draft may not have been your first choice, but you went anyway. You honored this nation and yourself by answering that call, and I would hope that the vast majority of you can say that serving your country was a great honor and privilege.

Today there is no draft, but America needs you desperately. Don’t believe me? Look around, fellow veterans. We live in a great country, but we have our problems. Plenty of them. Crime, poverty, unemployment, education, drugs, domestic violence, homeless people (many are vets), and the list goes on. In many respects, our culture is “me first” and there is little thought of responsibility to other people. I think of school teachers who tell me of their utter feelings of helplessness in controlling their classrooms.

Excuse, me, but there is something wrong with this picture- something seriously wrong. Do the descriptions in the above paragraph match the values for which you stand? Did you do your military service so that we can have a nation of people focused on nothing but self? Does the above paragraph seem to match “the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Veterans, America needs you. So get ready. In upcoming blogs I will be sharing information regarding how to get ready- ready for some of the most satisfying and productive service of your life. Service that will truly have a positive impact on this great nation we call America.