'To Bear Any Burden...'

That phrase from John F. Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural Address resonated in my mind this week as I contemplated the true meaning of answering the call to arms while being bombarded by press releases from all kinds of companies and organizations that want to turn Veterans Day into another marketing opportunity.

Although well meaning in some cases, these pitches all come across as shallow. They make a mockery of the burdens of service, which include the ultimate sacrifice.

To Pay Any Price

One of the outfits with which I had the privilege to serve in Vietnam in 1966 -- 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division -- experienced over 400 casualties that year, or about one-third of its total strength. This included over 60 Marines and Navy corpsmen killed in action and more than 340 wounded, according to data compiled by 33USMC.com an unofficial unit website.

Casualties for Navy corpsmen -- the young "docs" who risked their lives to save others -- amounted to more than 40, or roughly 10 percent of all casualties in 3/3 in 1966.

These young Marines and sailors and their families know full well what answering the call to bear any burden truly means.

The One Bad Day

War, for a combatant, does not end when he or she returns home, takes off the uniform and puts on civvies. We all have that One Bad Vietnam Day, One Bad Afghanistan Day, or One Bad Iraq Day that lingers in the inner recesses of the mind, often played over, again and again, in an endless loop.

Some of us get on with life, others seek help, and still others treat that One Bad Day with a toxic mix of alcohol and drugs. We all have learned that the One Bad Day is part of the price we pay to bear any burden.

Don't Just Thank Me, Do Something

That's the admonition in a guest post on the VA's VAntage point blog by Brian McGough, an Army Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who now works for the VA in the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs.

McGough wrote, "There are myriad things anyone can do to thank me and those like me for our service without uttering the oft-used and often empty, "Thank you for your service." He suggested folks:

• Help homeless vets.
• Hire a veteran.
• Visit a wounded veteran.

I would add that businesses that really want to thank vets for their service should hire them now, without waiting for the tax credits to kick in, which makes such hiring a calculated financial transaction.

11/11/11

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, which commemorates the end of World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.

Tradition calls for marking this day with two minutes of silence on the eleventh hour. I will do that at the Veterans Affairs Department cemetery in Santa Fe, N.M., today as I reflect on service and sacrifice. Please join me, and turn off all the mobile gadgets. The world will not end if you don't text for two minutes.

Honor Those Who Bore the Burden

Create your own honor roll of those who served, send it and we'll post it.

Here's my Honor Roll:

My father, Walter Brewin, who served in the Army Air Corps in the Philippines and Okinawa in World War II, and my father-in-law, William Suess, a tin can sailor in both the Atlantic and the Pacific in The Big One.

My comrades from 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines and 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, Vietnam, 1965-1966, including Rex Dieterle, Herbierto Gonzalez, Mike Metzger, Bill Schwartz, J.T. King, Larry Leal, Tom Wilmot and Mile Gullingsruud.

Marine Maj. Cornelius Ram, the best company commander any Marine could ever have.

Lewis B. Puller Jr., friend and fellow Marine who touched me with his grace.

Leon Daniel, Marine Korean War veteran and UPI bureau chief in Saigon on the last day of the Vietnam War. A friend, mentor and source of inspiration.

Former VA press secretary Katie Roberts, who quit her job earlier this year to sign on as a civilian public affairs officer with the Defense Department in Afghanistan.