Here's to Us T-Shirt

The old saying goes that a Veteran is someone who at one point signed a check to the United States for an amount “up to and including his or her life”. It’s pithy and gets the point across, but the reality of having lost a good friend is very different. It’s made even more stark when I meet soldiers now. I just didn’t realize how young I was then. I didn’t feel young. I wasn’t making “young” decisions. I knew exactly what I was doing and what was at stake. Just like they do now. Just like those close friends we have lost did.

Invariably, when a bunch of vets get together and the night is slipping away too quickly, as they often do, someone will buy a round. Usually Maker’s, Jack, or Jim. We know the toast before it comes. The odd thing about being together is that spoken or unspoken, we all know who is missing - who would have been there for this reunion, otherwise.

For most people in America, or Britain, or Australia or Canada or any of our allies, the casualties are a brief moment on the news, never again to be thought of or considered. Only the families of the fallen are left to bear the weight of the loss…and of course us. We know what they gave up. We suffered the same pains, but somehow we came out okay. And they were so damn young.

To us and those like us, we grow fewer every day.

And yes, there are damn few left.