Who has paid the price of freedom?

Army Life

HOW MANY LIVING VETERANS would you guess there are in the United States? What percentage of the nation's current population belongs to that "happy band of brothers" who have  answered the call to duty?

You can't have missed the fact that our last surviving veteran of World War I died recently. Nor can you be unaware that we have been losing veterans of World War II rapidly, approximately 850 of them die every day. Veterans of the Korean War aren't far behind. 
Now, even some of the veterans of Vietnam are beginning to depart. It probably will be a while before the ranks of veterans of the wars in the Middle East begin passing on. 

No one seems to have the courage to question the service of those who fought during World War II. However, many, especially among America's intelligentsia, have vilified those have served in all of the wars that followed. Of course, they haven't when I'm around to hear. Their forbearance in my presence is one of the few signs of common sense that they exhibit.

To borrow from Winston Churchill, "Never have so many owed so much to so few. How few? Approximately 22 million veterans according to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. That's little more than 6% of America's 350,000,000 citizens.

That leaves almost 94% - more than 9 out of every 10 of you - who have not had the privilege of serving. Thus, I have decided to include more detail of the experience in my reminisces about Vietnam. Let's just say that I'm going to share the fun so that you will understand just what you missed - that which we, who served, endured.