Thank You for Your Service

 

I never served in the military, but I came awfully close to serving.  Because I had to work while in college, I fell below full-time status and was classified 1-A in 1969.  The first lottery draft was held in December 1969.  My lottery number was 215 out of 365 and that year in my county, and they drafted young men up to 205.  After 1970, I was safe.  I often wonder what my life would have been had I served in the military.  I had several college friends who came home from Vietnam with their school tuition paid for by the GI bill.  But I also had one who came back with shrapnel in his leg and back, and one came back in a metal box.  I remember stories told to me by my Uncle Bill Wagner, Uncle Bill McNish, and Uncle Gray Whitely, all in WWII.  My Uncle Dean Whitely served in the Air National Guard, and still lives in Joppa, Md.  Yesterday was Uncle Dean’s 86^th birthday.  Happy birthday, Uncle Dean, and thank you for your service!  As they say, “We live in the land of the free because of the brave.”  Hey, thank a veteran today.  He will be proud and you will be thankful.  A win/win for both of you.