Today is Veteran’s day 2009. On this day every year all Americans including veterans to take time out to think about the serviceman who died in service of their county as well as those now are placing themselves in harm’s way.
I wanted to wear my pin of the U.S. Flag which I purchased after 9-11, and then on second thought I decided to do something a little different this year.
During a newscast on television a young lady, for some reason, happened to be wearing a pair of dog tags. I found it difficult to tell the reason why she had them on. Perhaps her significant other was a service member, or maybe she thought wearing them was fashionable.
For those of you who are not aware, these are issued to you once you join the military in the event you are killed in combat as a method of identifying you. The ovular shaped piece of metal identifies your name, social security number, blood type and religious preference. As a rule, a G.I. is given two pairs of tags which you are supposed to wear in any combat situation.
I served my enlistment in the service in between the two Gulf Wars (1991 & 2003) and I had not worn them since saw them for the first time in basic training over 15 years ago.
I thought it would be a good idea to wear them for old time’s sake as tribute to the guys who were wearing their tags in the event of something unfortunate happened, which is a fact of life for any military personnel in particular those in a combat situation.
The thought of wearing them prompted me to look in my place where I keep all of my effects from my time in the military. In time I found them.
When I put them on they felt strange at first as the cold metal rubbed against my chest but once I got accustomed to the clanging sound (I had lost my rubber silencers a long time ago) wearing my old tags proved to be no problem at all.
Today is Veteran’s day after all. It is the least I can do.
Image courtesy of dreamstime.com
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