The Next "Greatest Generation"

It is Memorial Day weekend and everyone is piling into their cars and SUVs to enjoy the first holiday of the summer. Memorial Day is meant to honor all service men and women who have served in all wars & conflicts but many of our minds turn to my parent’s generation, The Greatest Generation, those that served in WWII.

Today, as we lose the last of The Greatest Generation we have a new Greatest Generation, the men and women (and their families) who have served three and four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. We remember and honor all those who have experienced the horror of war, the stress of prolonged separation, and the compound effects of our recession.

I recall a story related to me of a son in his early twenties on patrol in Iraq. Insurgents would frequently booby-trap women and children and force them to sit in the path of (rapidly) oncoming military vehicles. If the victim stood up the booby-trap was rigged to explode. If the vehicles stopped to assist the victim the booby-trap would be detonated by remote control to kill American soldiers. Our soldiers had to make split second decisions on whether to stop their vehicles and expose themselves to a predictable ambush – or run them over.

One day there was a young girl, maybe 10, sitting in the middle of a bridge. On this occasion the young man driving the Humvee decided to stop a safe distance away. They waited in the vehicle for a moment to assess the situation. They watched as the little girl looked at them, stood up, and disappeared into a pink mist. She had saved their lives.

The horror of war has not changed. The courage to go out and face a faceless enemy has not changed. The strength needed to uphold our honor and values in the face of mindless violence has not changed.

Today I remember and honor all those who serve, and their families. I salute you. You have my undying gratitude and my deepest respect.

You are our new, the next, Greatest Generation.