I love slogans. It boils everything down so simply. Every day the United States Army fights for our freedom...right? Well, no, they don't. There's your dirty little secret. They stand ready, but they aren't out there fighting for freedom every day. As a matter of fact, Iraq was not about our freedom. Neither was Grenada. Or Somalia. Or Viet Nam or Korea for that matter. Arguably Afghanistan could be considered for our freedom, but it was more about retaliation and oil. If the folks that actually determine where our Armies go cared about protecting our freedom (not the grunts but the politicians) we would have been in Afghanistan on September 12 and Osama bin Laden wouldn't have gotten to live another 10 years in hiding. Never confuse the politicians who send our armies into war with the men and women who execute those orders.
Our veterans joined the service to serve their country. For some, like my Dad, it was a ways to a means. His family was dirt poor, their father had died 10 years earlier, they'd lost the farm and serving our country allowed him to make enough money to buy back the farm for his mother. Many use it today to pay for their education. Judges are sentencing criminals to do their time in the armed forces now. Join the Army or go to jail. Regardless, they served our country in our military. They may have never seen action or they may have run into firestorms to save a buddy, or a child. The bottom line, once they were in, they did what needed to be done, they did what was asked of them and they did it without question. That is the nature of our military.
The truth is those who serve our country put their lives on hold during the course of their service. Some conflict breaks out, they could be going. Training in a secret location? Yeah Dad won't be at the barbecue this weekend. He's out on TDY. Call in sick? Not for the next four years. Hangover? Too bad. Sick kid? Sorry. Uncle Sam controls their lives 24/7. And God forbid we get into a conflict somewhere, kiss your family goodbye because you're going.
Call it what it is, it's tough duty. And the pay? Below the poverty line unless you are in combat. Those who serve have someone else determining every aspect of their lives while they're in. Most do it for our country.
So agents, when you see that next VA deal, don't you dare tell that buyer's agent that your seller won't accept a VA deal. Don't you dare write them off because your seller doesn't want to do the repairs to make the home inhabitable according to VA standards. Don't you dare dismiss that vet who served our country. Don't you dare thank him for his service out of one side of your mouth and then take another offer out of the other. Thank him for his service and do the right thing.
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