Veterans Day

Its strange to say (type) this out loud....

This is my last Veterans Day as both active duty and a veteran.

Next year, I will type my annual Henry V Veterans Day message from the friendly confines of retirement in my housecoat and standard issue OIF/OEF hat poolside in Arizona. A slightly different uniform than I wear now.

The other thing that will be different next year is I won't get the honor of walking into my EOD flight on Monday and being surrounded by the Band of Brothers referenced in Henry V.

This is the thing that I will miss the most...the daily camaraderie that is standard in every EOD flight that I have been in. I'll try to resist the urge to show up at the Luke EOD flight and tell war stories in my housecoat and hat...but no guarantees

Fortunately, places like Project ; Felix are good at filling this need for brotherhood. That and I know many of you are a phone call away and I am comforted by this immensely.

With that...Here's Conway Twitty...or rather...Shakespeare's Henry V:

"Good men will tell their sons this story and the Feast of St. Crispin will never go by, from this day to the end of time, without our being remembered:

we few, we happy few, we band of brothers—for whoever sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother.

However humble his birth, this day shall grant him nobility. And men back in England now safe in their beds will curse themselves for not having been here, and think less of their own manhood when they listen to the stories of those who fought with us here on St. Crispin’s Day."

Happy Veterans Day my friends...enjoy your day!