I remember one day at a restaurant two army soldiers dressed in army camo walked in and sat down at the bar. I was so glad they were home safe with their families and I just wanted to go up to them and say thank you. But I was too scared to even think about that. Shortly after we got up and left to go home. I felt so bad that I couldn’t even say thank you to our true heroes of our country. Later that week I watched a movie on a real life event that took place in Mogadishu called Black Hawk Down. This movie truly did show the real horrors of war. I remembered the two soldiers who walked into the restaurant earlier that week and I thought to myself “I can’t imagine what they’ve been through”.
I sat there and thought about how cowardly I was to not even say a simple thank you for all they’ve done. Maybe even buy them a meal to show our gratitude for them. I’ve realized since then a simple thank you is all it takes to brighten someone’s day. After I realized what those soldiers could have gone through I made a pact to myself that every active duty member I saw and every veteran of any war I would meet I would say thank you and maybe even buy them a meal.

A few months ago I did a volunteer auction with some kids from my school. When we got there a man about middle aged asked me if I wanted to be in the military and I said yes. He explained to me all there was to know about the military and how he was an army veteran himself. He told me he would answer any questions I have and he would give me advice on how to get through deployments and many other things when the time comes. As our time dwindled down and everyone said their goodbyes I went up to the man and shook his hand and said “thank you” and in reply he said “it was my pleasure” and walked away with a big smile on his face. In reality the veterans aren’t old war torn men who don’t care about anyone in reality they care for our well-being and are willing to do anything to help the future generations of soldiers to fill their spots as much as possible. All it takes is a simple thank you to put a smile on our country’s heroes faces and it makes me happy to see them smiling.

I think personally it should be a law to thank a service member or veteran. They put their life on the line for everyone in this country and many don’t realize the stuff they go through. Hearing the stories some veterans tell makes me sad in the fact that they lost friends even brothers during the wars. I couldn’t possibly endure the sadness of that.