Paying Tribute to the Vets

Growing up, my dad told me countless stories about his peacetime service in the U.S. Army during the 1950s.

He was stationed in Germany – a part of the U.S. peacekeeping forces there as Cold War tensions heated up following WWII. A little kid as I was, would eat up those stories he told me – from his experiences in boot camp through his discharge.

Now, looking back on it, I realize he was just “doing his bit.” He did his part like millions of other Americans have done that we are honoring on this Veterans Day. He put his civilian life on hold to go serve to help keep our country safe.

I can’t imagine how tense it must’ve been to be serving so close to the line between East and West as Cold War tensions ramped up. And to have been doing so in a country we had just been fighting against a decade earlier in WWII must’ve added a surreal dimension to it all.

He was a radio operator and his time on the radios in Germany. Later, this led to his civilian hobby of being a ham radio operator for so many years. His best friend in the Army was also a radio operator – also later a ham operator – and they stay in touch with each other to this day.

I pay tribute to my dad’s service with this blog today.

And I pay tribute to my friend Ed, who served in the Air Force in the late 1980s. And to my friend Bryan, who coached baseball with me, who is currently serving in the Army. And my friend Frank, an ex-marine, whose son played on our baseball team during our championship season in 2010.

And countless others. My cousin Mike served in the Air Force. I had uncles who served in both the Army and Air Force. I recently worked with another guy who had completed a career in the Air Force. And over the years I’ve known several other Veterans.

I’m impressed by the service of all of them.

For example, during the height of Desert Storm in the early 90s, Lisa and I send a care package to “Any Soldier.” We got a nice note back from Kevin Gipson, an Oklahoman, who was serving in the Persian Gulf during that war. We sent Kevin a number of care packages – anything he needed – during his time of service.

That year, on Christmas Eve, we got a package from Kevin, which included two Bart Simpson Desert Storm t-shirts. Talk about a nice Christmas present. We still have those shirts to this day.

Later, when he returned to the states, we got a nice phone call from him and it was great to make that human connection.

About that same time, I went to grad school and one of the guys in our master’s program – and a star player on our communications softball team – was a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. He was on sabbattical to get his Master’s degree and then resume his service as an information officer.

Later, I saw him on camera doing an interview about a Coast Guard operation at sea. I have lost track of him over the years but I believe he’s still an officer in the Coast Guard.

I think of him from time to time and I think of my other friends who have served.

And I think of my dad. And I pay tribute to him – and all the other Veterans who have served to help keep our country safe.

Thanks to all.

JG

Originally posted 11/11/2011