Veterans Day November 11 - the years will never wipe out the memory of their sacrifice and deaths for us - God Bless our Veterans and Families

41 million men and women

served in our military

They have done enough for us - it is time we take care of them!

With impeachment, investigations and petty politics still dominating our national debate, confusion over our war policy, and partisanship again dominating our headlines, how does that make those who returned from the war zones feel about what little we do as a nation to honor our veterans upon whose back we have built this temple to the Gods of greed and malicious behavior. Don't you think we could do a little better?

Since hot air and no substance have ruled in our nation's capital  for years, it seems the least we could do is take a few moments to pause and ask what have we done for those who risk their lives to defend us. If we were truly in to soul searching as opposed to partisan babble the answer would be clear. Our failure to address the cost of government, rising debt and deficit spending, greed mongering by the very banks we bailed out with taxpayers money, and the entire specter of empty promises and political lies is a sorry testament to leadership, concern, compassion and honesty toward veterans.

1,309,000+ Died in the war

Korea - Vietnam - Desert  Storm - Kuwait - Iraq

 Afghanistan -Libya - Syria

During that time not only did we lose several thousand brave men and women defending a bizarre foreign policy and a non-existent war strategy, but America brought back over 700,000 disabled veterans, meaning we now have over four million disabled veterans from wars since World War II.

1,498,240+ Were wounded

Our new president has finally begun to fulfill the empty promises to our heroes and their families which have been so long neglected.

Let us vow to not let our political failures of the past continue to harm our veterans, those proud souls who answered the call to arms and now cannot get help for risking and often giving their lives.  

Let us not let the malaise of failure continue to punish our veterans, and especially our wounded warriors and those suffering the many stressful results of war against terrorism.  

These brave men and women and their families who depended on them should be the first priority for our government, before big bankers, big pharmaceuticals, and those who profit from the fruits of war.

Over the past decade our government has demonstrated little to give people confidence, certainly nothing to indicate it is any different than business as usual, and even less to demonstrate they have a clear policy and the ability to implement the strategy. Our veterans and the people deserved much better.

President Trump vowed to fix the mess facing veterans, and never let it happen again. Godspeed.  So far he is making good progress but much remains to be done.

The time is now to act.

Honoring our Vets and taking care of them for their sacrifices is not a political problem, not Democrat or Republican, but an American problem.

If our government wants to honor the veterans, truly honor the veterans, then stop playing politics with war and foreign relations and give our new president the chance to make decisions, act bold, and demonstrate leadership.

Every day we should wake up and remember that it is our Constitution our politicians pledged to defend, the people's Constitution, and nothing can be more appropriate than protecting those who fought for our freedom.

So Washington, DC, stop the partisanship. Stop the bickering over ideological nonsense. Stop taking care of special interests and protecting people who should be prosecuted. Listen to the pulse of the country, listen to the heartbeat of America, and you will see how far you have strayed from our expectations.

When we reach that point we have honored our veterans by honoring their families and friends.

It is Memorial Day weekend - time to Remember, then Love and Live - God's Fallen Warriors

I do not know about you but I really need a break from reality, at least for a weekend.  What better way to change your outlook than by focusing on the sacrifices by so many members of our armed forces, dating back to George Washington and his ragtag Continental Army.

We all know people who have served, or we are beneficiaries of the service by others who gave us freedom, hope, equality and justice.  I suppose if one were realistic, they would say we honor those who sacrificed for others, yet wonder about those who ignore the sacrifices and do things that are not in the public interest.

When I was young I lived to have the opportunity to defend freedom.  My career in both sports and education were preparation for joining the military.  Even as I was playing basketball at the University of Arizona I was immersed in an intensive Reserve Officer Training Program to prepare me for the inevitable service during the Vietnam war.

However, Divine Providence has other ideas for us on occasion so at the moment I volunteered for the draft armed only with high marks in officer's training, they discovered my body had been permanently damaged from fifteen years of intensive sports achievement.  

Rather than military service, I spent much of the next three decades working in government and politics.  Sometimes we just have to find the good in adversity.

So this weekend, as I do every year, I will honor our fallen heroes.  I will honor those who have not fallen but gave up their lives for us through injury and stress and will never be able to lead a normal life.  I will honor the families of those heroes whose lives were changed forever by wars halfway around the world.

Here is a song I wrote to honor those heroes, to help keep the memory of their supreme sacrifice alive so it could not be forgotten.  It is performed by my band, Nashville Bound. I hope you take the time to listen to it.  The name of the song is "No One's Left Keeping Score."  Click on the link below to hear it. 

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9481087

Memorial Day - Honoring our Heroes - God Bless our Patriots and Protectors