Veteran's Day

With Friday being Veteran's Day, I would just like to thank all those who have risked their lives on behalf of this country and our freedoms. I would also like to encourage all of my readers to please mark this day by making a donation to a military-related charity of your choice. In addition to the ones listed to the right, Armed Liberal at Winds of Change brings word of a great new venture called Project Valour IT.

I can think of no better way to conclude this post than by quoting an article from today's Christian Science Monitor that aptly lays out the courage and dedication of our men and women in uniform:

On a day when the warriors of America's past will talk of great sacrifices long remembered and old friends not forgotten, a new generation of soldiers deployed to the far corners of the Middle East is beginning to pencil in the first lines of its own story.

It is already obvious that this is a force unlike any America has sent to war - older, more diverse, and all volunteers. But gradually, the ways in which these wars spawned by Sept. 11 are shaping these troops are also becoming apparent.

In the midst of a war with no clear endpoint, the ultimate judgment of this generation of fighters must wait for Veterans Days to come. But if World War II veterans were perceived to be the greatest generation and Vietnam's conscripts a lost generation, then those who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today could be called the dedicated generation - convinced of America's cause and determined to shepherd it through days of dust and destruction