Thank You For What You Do

“Thank you for what you do.” It’s a phrase I’ve heard countless times over the
past few years, any time I’ve walked through a public place in uniform or picked up a
conversation with a perfect stranger.

We live in a country today where Americans are genuinely appreciative of
everyone serving in uniform. Knowing this I always just smile and say thank you, but the
truth is, I don’t look at what I do as anything special. To me, it’s simply a job, no
different from the guy who fixes my car or the acne-faced kid at the fast food drive thru
trying to get me to add the two apple pies for a dollar.

What I think makes this job different, what makes being a part of the military
service special, is the bond we have with everyone else in uniform. I doubt the drive thru
kid has ever had to trust his life to the guy making the french fries, but we have to put
that kind of faith in each other on a daily basis. As a result of this mutual trust and
reliance, we become a part of something bigger than ourselves; we become a part of a
family.

Like any family, we are not limited to the current generation. Our family not only
includes those who serve today, but all of those who came before us. And also like any
family, the well being and success of the current generation is due in large part to the
sacrifices and efforts of those who came before.

There is no question in my mind that we who serve today have things much better
than any previous generation of our “family.” Our equipment is better and offers levels
of comfort and protection previously unimagined. Our weapons are more reliable and
more accurate. Casualties in our current conflict are proportionately less than at any time
in our history. And most importantly, the support and respect we receive from the
American people is rivaled only by that given to the “Greatest Generation,” the veterans
of World War II.

With everything that preceding generations of our “family” have given us as a
result of their unwavering perseverance and all too often their blood, it seems only right
that we, as the beneficiaries of the reward they earned for us, should endeavor to honor
them and their sacrifices. The best way for us to do this is with a firm commitment to
ensure that every single one of them receives the honor they so deservedly earned.

As the climate of our country has changed in recent years, veterans from all
conflicts have been endowed by the American people with the full respect that they have
earned, with one tragic exception... those who fell on the field of battle never to return
home to receive that honor.

Regardless of how appreciative the public may be or how they may view my
service in the armed forces through peace and war time, it is still to me “just a job.”
Being deployed for eight months at a time or sitting on a beach in Iraq with a weapon is
just what I have to do. There is nothing about it that makes me feel deserving of the
attention the public would like to shower us with. What does mean something to me is
that now, as a member of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, I have the
opportunity to honor those who came before me. I am lucky enough to be a part of a
team made up of the best men and women from every branch of the U.S. military, with
the mission of searching out those who fell and did not return home and bringing them
home, so that they too will receive the honor they have earned.

Although I am sure that all of those who came before me did not view what they
did as anything special or anything other than doing their jobs, I am very grateful to have
the opportunity through this mission to show my respect for them and to be able to say,
“Thank you for what you did.”