This has been, by all standards, a tiring week for America. We’ve held, and managed to survive (at least to this point), one of the most contentious midterm elections in recent history, and that only got us to Tuesday.
By Wednesday, the president had labeled the elections a win, asked for and received the resignation of the Attorney General, and even squeezed in a tense, ninety minute press conference that managed to make it obvious that Mr. Trump has absolutely no love for most members of the media, but an especial animus for CNN’s Jim Acosta. Shortly after that press conference, the White House announced that Mr. Acosta’s credential had gone the way of former AG Session’ credentials- at least temporarily.
Despite all this bang-and-clang drama, the adults in the rest of the country managed to behave pretty well. Sure, there were the usual number of murders, shootings and assaults that have pretty much numbed our sense of outrage, but, compared to Washington, everything else in America seems to be running like a fine watch.
One of the reasons the country’s running, despite the dysfunction along the Potomac, is the continuing service of our veterans. All along the watchtowers, from law enforcement to medical services, veterans continue to serve their country -many by simply being solid citizens and showing up for work every day.
This week, I’ve been fortunate enough to be at Gunsite Academy in Arizona’s lovely Chino Valley. And I’ve been given high-level shooting instruction by veterans- and stood alongside other veterans who were recipients of that training because of their new careers in the outdoor media.
I love this part of my job because it reminds me that what I’ve done for nearly a half-century has been protected by the jobs these veterans have done to defend all our collective rights.
As we’ve talked this week, their has been a sharing of stories about their service, and the service of others. They’ve never been “hey, look how cool I am” stories, they’ve all been stories of how their fellow soldiers, sailors and airmen served as a unit to protect the rest of us.
This coming Monday we’ll celebrate Veteran’s Day. The day set aside to thank our living veterans for their service. While we’re seeing more young people coming out of the military nearly every day, we’re also losing a lot of our history- and heritage-as the remaining survivors of World War II pass away. That’s why I consider myself especially fortunate to have had the opportunity to thank two of our surviving World War II veterans for their service and sacrifice to protect the nation for those of us who hadn’t even been born.
If you know a WWII veteran, I hope you’ll make an effort this weekend to thank them for their sacrifice. If you’re my age, you doubtless know some of the “neighborhood kids” who have also served their time, too. That was brought home to me this week when I realized the young man sitting next to me explaining how the Bradley fighting vehicle had some unique characteristics -especially in combat- was younger than my oldest daughter.
To him, I’m the older generation. But I’m allowed to follow my dreams because of his service and sacrifice as well.
We’re coming up on the holiday that’s set aside to give those of us too-old for service these days the opportunity to thank those who have taken our generation’s place “along the watchtowers.”
From everyone at the Outdoor Wire Digital Network, it’s my privilege to offer each and every one of our veterans a sincere thank you for your service.
We’ll be back on Tuesday morning- but we’re keeping an eye on what’s happening, despite our not being in your mailboxes.
We will keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd