1 week Ago
For the last several years, I have always thought of a quote from Thomas Payne’s “The Crisis” around Veterans Day. On December 23, 1776, Payne’s essay was published to motivate Americans to take up arms against the British in the fight against tyranny: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot, will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
” I heard these words for the first time at a Veteran’s Day celebration about five years ago. As the presenter recited the words, they spoke to me. Through the years, I’d heard many quotes and stories about soldiers’ commitment and sacrifice, but it was never personal.
It was abstract. I stood and clapped at the Independence Day parade. I donated money to veterans on the street who were homeless or struggling, and often thanked a veteran with a Vietnam Vet hat on at restaurants or in town.
But I did all these things without any real emotional attachment to the act. In a way, I did it because it was expected of me, and it was the right thing to do. I am one of millions of Americans who have reaped the rewards of being an American simply because I was born here.
I’ve never had to advance on a position, or be deployed to some country I couldn’t find on a map, nor been injured protecting our freedoms. Additionally, I have had very little personal experience with family or friends being in the military. In short, I’ve had no real connection to military service for most of my life.
My dad served in the National Guard before my birth. Nicole’s (my wife) dad and stepfather each served in the Air Force and Navy, respectively, long before I knew either of them. All three of them came of age during Vietnam, so each lived through a time in which almost all Americans had some connection to military service.
But I’m a child of the 1980s. War was hardly on anyone’s mind, and only a few friends enlisted in the military. In short, military service was foreign to me.
If Thomas Payne were alive today, he might label me a “sunshine patriot.” Things for me changed about eight years ago when our daughter Aubrey married Richard Cooper. Richard joined the Army right out of high school and served eight years in the 82nd Airborne Division stationed at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) in North Carolina.
Aubrey joined him in North Carolina in 2018 and became a soldier’s wife. A life that no one has training for. A life often filled with loneliness and fear as Richard was away on a training mission or deployed overseas.
Staff Sergeant Richard Cooper was tasked with jumping out of perfectly good airplanes and setting up artillery in war zones. He spent nine months in Kandahar, Afghanistan where his platoon was charged with setting up and firing a 155 mm howitzer into occupied Taliban land. The Afghani soldiers that he helped train during the day would often join the Taliban at night and became casualties of the attack.
Again, something that no amount of training could prepare him for. Fortunately, he returned home safely after his time in Afghanistan and apparently had more nights at home, as they blessed us with three beautiful grandchildren: Rhett, Amelia, and Fallon. In early January 2020, President Trump issued orders for rapid deployment to Iraq for the 82nd, and Richard once again left on a mission as a pregnant Aubrey waved goodbye with baby Rhett on her hip.
Again, she was left alone, fearful, and halfway across the world from her husband or her family. Richard returned home in time to see the birth of their second child, Amelia, and was medically discharged after his fourth knee surgery in 2022. Apparently, jumping out of airplanes can be hard on the knees.
After Richard’s discharge, their whole family returned home to New Braunfels and spent nine months living with us as they settled into civilian life and tackled their new normal. Watching Richard walk up and down stairs is painful, as the young strapping ex-soldier traverses stairs like an old man. He doesn’t complain.
He knows it’s a part of the responsibility that he accepted. The responsibility of an American soldier. Richard and Aubrey are like thousands and thousands of soldiers and their loved ones who have made sacrifices for our country.
Some, the ultimate sacrifice. Sacrifices that all too often go unnoticed. Sacrifices that deserve more than just one day of gratitude.
Thank God so many have been willing to pay the price for the rest of us. A price that guarantees our liberty and our way of life. God bless all veterans and their loved ones! And God bless the United States of America!.
