our veterans day

OUR VETERANS DAY

there was one point during the vietnam war in the late 1960s when all five of the boys in my family would have been in the military at the same time
during this time i tried multiple times to enlist in the air force but was turned down for medical reasons
at one point the air force recruiter said to me
son
quit trying to enlist and go back to school
i eventually did
one of my brothers enlisted in the navy but was also turned down for medical reasons

im sure there was some relief on our parents part that five of us weren't in the military at that time

i cant imagine worrying about 5 sons during war time

during the ww2 my dad was in college
near the end of the war he got orders to be shipped out as a chaplain
when the war ended his orders got canceled

the other three brothers finished their 20 year careers
one in the army and two in the air force

one went into the army right after high school
he had always wanted to be in the army
our parents had to sign for him since he was 17
he finished 20 years in the army and lived in asian countries for two tours
he spent several years working for a well known foundation

another after dropping out of college enlisted in the air force
he finished his 20 years in the air force having lived 9 years overseas in germany and england and thailand
afterwards he finished college with his phd in history and taught college for 20 years
he is the one i call my historian brother

another after a year of college entered the air force hoping to eventually get his gi bill to pay for college
while in the regular air force he was able to test into the air force academy preparatory school
later he got a congressional appointment to the air force academy
he spent 20 years as a pilot in the air force
he spent all his career stationed in the us but traveled all over the world
he spent a lot of time in saudia arabia during the iran iraq war
after retirement he spent 10 years teaching military pilots how to fly 
he also was a certified financial advisor after that for a well known investment company
he died last year
he is buried at the air force academy 
he is the one i called my rainwater brother

my historian brother is an ancestor lay expert
he has gone back in time and found our veterans in our ancestry tree who served

they fought in all the wars we have had
some fought in the civil war on both sides
several died while fighting in the wars
he has newspaper accounts and death certificates and military records on many of them

each veterans day he prints out a narrative on them
its several pages long
for our family and our future generations he has left a record for them to have

so
today 
i wish to thank those three brothers who served
i am thinking of those ancestors who did the ultimate sacrifice
died in battle
and
those who were left with scars both physical ones and mental ones

thanks to all the veterans that have served

may we now remain out of wars

the organicgreen doctor