Veterans Day Salute!

Fellow Warriors:

I’ll send out and post this week’s newsletter tomorrow (Thursday, 11/11/10) that will include the complete recap from last week’s profession-relevant Bible study. However, I wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to wish all our vets – military AND law enforcement alike, a blessed Veterans Day.

Note that the latest prayer requests are posted below (after this message) -- please take the time to join us in prayer. I’ve also posted a number of new links and info here on our website.

VETERANS DAY SALUTE!

The following comes from Ken Wallentine in Utah. Ken’s kids also serve in both the military and followed their father into law enforcement.

This Thursday is Veterans Day. It used to be called "Armistice Day." It was established on November 11 because the end of the First Great War came on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. In 1953, a patriotic shoe cobbler from Emporia, Kansas, convinced his congressman to propose to his fellow Kansan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, that Armistice Day be amended to honor all veterans and be thenceforth called Veterans Day. Ike embraced the idea and Congress agreed. In 1954, the first national Veterans Day was celebrated. Thanks to Al King, a guy from Emporia, Kansas, who just wanted to honor the kids in his town who fought, and those who died, in the Pacific and in Europe.

Thanks to veterans, my youngest daughter can study American History at a great university and express her views without fear or inhibition. I might grumble to my wife about going, but thanks to those vets, I will go to church this Sunday and worship as I choose, not as some fanatic with a bomb would have me worship. Last week, I got to vote in secret and speak out in public, thanks to vets. When I shut down the office late tonight and hit the sack, I will read from a book checked out from my local library. Veterans protected my right to read what I want without censorship.

There are veterans conveniently located near you. Do what you can to thank them. Many continue to serve in law enforcement. What would it be like for a modern warrior to stop the patrol cruiser at the front of a rest home and ask to join some vets for lunch? Too shy? Take a cop who served to lunch and just tell her or him "thanks." Call an uncle who was once a G.I. Visit one of the many web sites that facilitate sending a greeting or holiday package to a service man or woman. Say a prayer for warriors and veterans. Give to the USO. Since 1941, they've been family for every American soldier, sailor, marine, airman and coastie.

This year, do more. Retrieve a code book from the shelf, dig in your old history textbook and find the Constitution, or point the browser in the direction of the Constitution of the United States. Read it. Veterans served, fought and died, so that you and I could be protected by it.

Do more. Teach a kid about Veterans Day and about why this nation remains the greatest on earth. Introduce them to the concept that America is exceptional because of the men and women who served to preserve your liberty and theirs. Do more. Honor a vet by doing your part to shape the next generation of Americans. God bless America. God bless our veterans. God bless our troops.

Thanks Ken – I’ll 2nd that. To all my fellow servant-warriors – both LEOs and military alike – thank you for your service. Have a blessed day – and stay safe out there!