Every Veteran’s Day I go through the list of my contacts saved in my phone. It is a very humbling experience for a couple of reasons: 1) it gives me a deep sense of gratitude that God has blessed me with so many wonderful friends and family and 2) I am so proud to see that many of the people in my contact list have served this nation with honor and courage.

On this Veteran’s Day I am most proud of the service that my own father gave to this nation. During the era of Free Love, Woodstock-style binging parties, and anti-American protests, my father and many like him strapped on his boots, put on a uniform, and went to work in Southeast Asia to help spread freedom and fight against the spread of Communism.

I’m also proud of my own high school and college buddies who performed the same sacrifice to serve our nation in another dire time following 9/11. While I was starting a career and raising a family they were crawling through the mud, taking gunfire from extremist radicals in Iraq and Afghanistan, and securing a peace in the Middle East to help protect our nation from further terrorist attacks.

We can never repay or thank these men and women enough for their sacrifices. They had the courage, honor, and Patriotism to serve and sacrifice - doing their duty while their friends were out frolicking in the daisy’s, making love to their sweethearts, and enjoying the freedoms that men like my father and college friends fought to secure.

Again, THANK YOU! You are the greatest heroes our nation will ever know.