At
All Times,
Service Above Self |
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LA
Fire Department
The
LAFD asks you - What is a Vet?
by Brian Humphrey
LAFD Firefighter/Paramedic
Dear Friend of the LAFD:
The Los
Angeles Fire Department takes pride in its credo:
"...at
all times, service above self".
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There are times
however, when our efforts - no matter how valiant - should be rightfully
overshadowed. One such time on the 11th hour of the 11th day of
the 11th month. Please join us in taking time to ponder the following
question...
WHAT IS A
VET?
Some veterans
bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar,
a certain look in their eye.
Others may carry
the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece
of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel:
a soul forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades,
however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge
or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.What
is a vet?
He is the cop
on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons
a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out
of fuel.
He is the barroom
loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy
behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four
hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She - or he
- is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing
every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW
who went away one person and came back another -or- didn't come
back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico
drill instructor that has never seen combat - but has saved countless
lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into
Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade
- riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic
hand.
He is the career
quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three
anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at
the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory
of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them
on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old
guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly
slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all
day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares
come.
He is an ordinary
and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who offered some
of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and
who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice
theirs.
He is a soldier
and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing
more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest,
greatest nation ever known.
So remember,
each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean
over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most
cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded
or were awarded.
Two little words
that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".
Remember, November
11th is Veterans Day.
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One fine
man probably summarized it best...
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us
freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who
has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the
campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath
the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows
the protester to burn the flag."
Father
Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC
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Please Stay
Safe, Be Well - and Never Forget!
Respectfully
Yours in Safety and Service,
Brian Humphrey
Firefighter/Paramedic
Public Service Officer
Los Angeles Fire Department
E-Mail: beh9593@lafd.lacity.org
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Los Angeles Fire Department Home Page:
http://www.lafd.org
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http://www.lafd.org/info.htm
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