VETERANS DAY SALUTE

We live in the "land of the free" because of the brave.

Our military is willing to risk all, and that concept is hard to wrap your mind around. It's harder still if you have no personal link to the armed forces.

If you didn't have a soldier husband, or father, or uncle, or granddaddy (great-granddaddy), or son...then it might be harder to understand how military service colors a family.

Mike and I both can turn back the military history pages because we each have relatives who served back in the 1800's.

Mike's great-granddad, George Anderson Johnson, fought in the Civil War. He was from Atlanta, GA and he brought his family to Arkansas after the war because he had served in the northern Arkansas area and liked the countryside. Mr. Johnson is the one who carried his wife's crossstitch "Seek Jesus" (that we have framed over our mantel) in his wallet throughout the war.

Check out Mr. Johnson's fine beard. It is typical of that era, even though we look at it and tend to think of the many "bad beards" we've seen in B movies.

I cannot imagine the hardships this man suffered in his lifetime. Just getting from Georgia to Arkansas on a horse (or walking) would have killed me...and he came twice!

My grandfather, Ransom Clough, was born in the 1880's and had a logging business in Des Arc, Arkansas. The Spanish-American War was fought right at the turn of the century, so Ransom must have been a very young man when this picture was made. We can't see peach fuzz on his face, but we can see contemplative resolution.

Most people know that Mike is a retired JAG officer for the Air Guard. Colonel Cruse spent 20 years serving in that capacity. That meant that he worked 12 days in a row once a month...without a day off. Well, I guess in these days of high unemployment, there are people who would love a chance to work twelve days in a row. But it took perseverance.

Most of Mike's service years were spent at the Jacksonville Air Force base, counseling soldiers with problems associated with long deployments or whatever legal issues needed to be attended to. My husband served honorably and made lifelong friends in the service. Mike ate lunch most drills with an unlikely duo: Father Reynolds, a Catholic priest...and Carroll Sites, a Church of Christ pastor. Would you like to have been a fly on the wall? The service binds men together.

My Daddy joined the military like so many of his friends at

the beginning of WW2. He always carried a stigma about signing up and getting sent to Stuttgart, Arkansas. Something in his manhood was embarrassed that he was never sent overseas to fight, but still his military experience changed his life. It caused him to meet/marry Mother and live "down south" (Daddy was a Massachusetts Yankee). And after the war he got to go to college because of the GI Bill. That was huge for a feller who had quit high school to help feed the family during hard times. Jim was one of the oldest boys in a big Catholic family of 10 kids. The military continued to be a blessing to our family as Daddy joined the

National Guard. That was an extra paycheck during his working years, and retirement was easier for Mother and Daddy because of his Guard check. If you don't count the chiggers he always got at summer camp, the Guard was a real blessing.

My mother's sister Margaret married a funny honey, my Uncle Ned. He grew up in DeValls Bluff, Arkansas, and the military took him a long way from home to the Pacific theatre in WW2. Uncle Ned flew fixed-wing planes during the war, but he never talked about it. Ned always had a joke under his breath. I grew up regularly visiting their home at Camp Robinson, where Uncle Ned finished his military career in the active Army Guard. He was in charge of the air strip at Camp Robinson, and over time was the pilot who helicoptered several Arkansas governors around. The military taught him skills and gave him a long and distinguished career.

Our son Brad likes life's adrenaline edge, and we had to sign for him to join the Air Guard when he was 17. After Basic, they sent him to fireman's school. Mike and I couldn't help but smile because he previously had been an amateur pyromaniac. Brad's time in the military gave him an understanding of the commitment required to serve. I remember when he went down to his unit in Ft. Smith to do drills during his college years. The fraternity brothers made fun of that. Brad was incredulous that "they had no idea what the military does for them". The

Air Guard matured Brad beyond his years.

You and I share the privilege of living in a country where the military is a force for good. That is getting to be a pretty rare bird these days. There is no way to repay these men and women...except to pray for them and look for opportunities to do good toward them. Certainly now since the 100 bullets at Ft. Hood, we need to pray for the Lord to protect the ones who would protect us. And another part of "doing good" to them might be to put folks in political positions of authority who understand and appreciate our military.

One final Veterans Day salute: hooray for a brave Army major named Mike Wall. He is such a good man who continues to serve his country well after two long tours in Iraq.

"And here is how to measure it–the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends." John 15:13 NLT