The True Cost of Freedom

I am getting ready to visit my brother the end of this month.

I love my big brother.

He took me on my first hike,

introduced me to my first rattle snake.

Knocked out my first tooth, sorta...

Snuck me out of school to teach me how to shoot a gun.

Bragged at the rifle range when I out shot the grown men.

Pelted me with rotten tomatoes.

Shoved dead fish heads down my shirt while cleaning the fish we just caught .

Locked me in between train cars while taking the train to Calif..

Picked me up on his shoulders, ran and threw me into the ocean my first time there.

And threw firecracker at me to make me learn the way to summer school ,walking in front of him.

WHY?  He didn't want a sissy for a little sister,and he had good reason.... I was a super sissy.

Our brother Michael died at the age of 12 in a fire. I was 2 at the time.  Being the youngest of four children, born years after the others, my parents rarely allowed me out of their sight till I was 13, then they sort of turned me loose.

I thank God every day for my brother..take it as you will...and the lessons of freedom, of risk taking, of fighting back, of walking on my own that he taught me.

My brother served in the Navy.

He was color guard upon his graduation from boot camp, I was there.

The first thing he bought after graduation was a small necklace for me with a replica of the navy ring, and he let me wear his hat.  He took me on a parachute ride,and we both screamed all the way down.

My brother is a decorated veteran of two terms in the Vietnam War.

The Bronze Star to name one of many.

While he was away he sent me things from all over the world....

 When he disappeared for long periods of time and my parents were sure he was dead, he never forgot me....I can't tell you why I know.

My brother is now in rehab therapy after having some of his foot amputated (mostly) due to diabetes.

Luckily, for the last few years he has been a fully covered (100%) disabled veteran. 

I can't tell you why it took so long for him to get the coverage he deserved....

But I an tell you cost...

Silence.

I love my big brother.

And I am my brother's keeper.

I am my brother's guardian angel.

And in this world....

we should all be angels to our vets!

We should all be our brother's keepers!

I don't think 99% of us who have never had to serve anyone, military or not, truely understand what it means to be " in sevice" to anything.

But as a nation, we need to put aside that ignorance and understand, that dispite the war they served in, the outcome, and the politics that took them there....

those that faced direct combat...

in the line of fire.....

an served with honor....

and survived....

deserve everything they need

in abundance

and without question.