My grandfather served in WWI. My father served in WWII. I served in Vietnam.

Veterans Day is important to me. I want people to remember. Many of our children have never been asked to remember, so when I get the chance, I speak to students. I like to challenge them to serve and to remember. Every generation, in every culture, needs young people willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to preserve freedom for that generation. As parents, we can hand down our wealth, our family name, our house. We can give everything but freedom. Freedom must be EARNED by each successive generation.

This Veterans Day I spoke to high school seniors in Ft. Sumner, NM. I told them about my service, about my fear of flying and dying. The silence in the room told me a few of them had fears…

I challenged them to deal with their fears. I don’t know what their fears are—or yours—but some of life’s great moments will only occur when we overcome fear.

For me, this was flying http://www.peopleforpearce.com/content/fears-death-and-flying.  I challenged the students, especially the young women, to fly. I tell them of the exhilaration of sitting in a jet on the runway with your oxygen mask on, the sweat dripping down the back of your neck…pushing the throttles forward… the afterburners kicking in…being slammed back in the seat with a deep thump in the pit of your stomach…the sensation of being able to go straight up, defying gravity for just few moments. I would not have known any of this if I had not overcome one of my life’s greatest fears. I would not know the self respect of having served; of admitting there is something greater than myself—something I might have to die for.

Courage is more than doing something that you are afraid of not doing something simply because you are afraid of it; it is placing that fear—and yourself—second to something greater. And to make that decision is the moral version of flying jets…it is to go straight up—to defy gravity for just a few moments.

Think of doing something WHILE you are afraid.  The Civil War battle of Gettysburg http://americancivilwar.com/getty.html day three, Pickett’s charge: 15,000 Confederate soldiers were told to march one mile, straight at the well-defended Union line, taking fire the whole mile.  From their right, Union artillery fired cannon and grapeshot, killing and maiming for the entire distance.  By the half mile point over half of the Confederates were dead and wounded.  The air was hot with lead, the ground covered with bodies, and half a mile still remained.  And the men still continued to march toward that line.  Courage…

 Next, remember WWII, Omaha beach. Watch the beginning sequence of Saving Private Ryan, and think of the courage to get out of those landing boats and crawl up the beach and take out those guns up at the top of the cliff. Build a respect for courage in your family…

Remember. Remember the sacrifices others have made for you.

Remember your family members who are veterans, and thank them for their service. Ask them to share their story. If your family does not have a veteran, find one at church, or next door. Make your thanks personal, one person to another. Listen to their story. Some stories are mundane, but some should bring tears to your eyes and will bring tears to their eyes.

Raise your children to be willing to fight for their freedom…liberty is the greatest gift from God to us humans. Liberty is triumph over evil from within and without. I love liberty and would fight for it today, but I have to teach it to my grandkids to be willing to fight for freedom.

This veterans day after speaking to the high school students I flew to Las Cruces and spoke at the Las Cruces Veterans Heritage Dinner. The NMSU Air Force ROTC cadets hosted a dinner for veterans. The place was packed with the yellow jacketed WWII guys, red jacketed Marines, and vets from all the wars since. And the younger generation was saying thank you.

These are some of the cadets…

…and their cadet wing commander.

I was also the cadet wing commander in 1969 at NMSU. Wing Commanders are smarter and better looking than in my day. Lt Saucedo is going to intelligence Training, when she graduates…I will tell my granddaughter and my grandson about her, so that they will know I value Service and Freedom.

These young people have signed a blank check, for the amount of their life, due and payable whenever their country calls. That is a stunning concept. These young men and women join a select fraternity of soldiers of the ages willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their beliefs and for your freedom.

I thanked the veterans, spouses and the cadets that will soon serve and we all remembered the sacrifices our veterans have made…that we have made.

Don’t stop today. Thank a veteran a day all the way to Thanksgiving. Remember. Then, live a life worthy of the sacrifices so many have made for you and me.