Arlington National Cemetary

One of my favorite places in Washington DC is not the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, or Chipotle in Georgetown. It is Arlington National Cemetary. No I'm not a ghoul, but to walk among the headstones, to read the names and to just think about what each one represents.

Each headstone is not just a name but a person. A soldier who put country first and self last. A man or woman that was willing to "give the last full measure of devotion" so that each of us could live in almost unrestrained freedom.

For most of us that were born in the USA and that have lived here all our lives it is hard to imagine what life is like else where. Yeah we read the articles, books and watch the news. We may even study life in other places, and we can empathize. But we have been so blessed that we don't really grasp just how much of a blessing this country is for her citizens.

Even now as we face the falling stock market, higher costs of doing just about everything, and the election of a president that many find to be scary. We are still a blessed nation. We blessed in so many ways, but one of those big ways is our military.

We have an all voluntary military. Each person in the military is there by choice. They were not conscripted, they were not taken out of their beds by gun point and forced into service. They are not there because the government threatened to harm their family or friends. They are there because they want to be there. That in itself is amazing to me.

Civilians will say that there are advantages and incentives to being in the military. Job security is one of them. In today's culture there is a need for military persons, so those that perform to standard and follow the rules have job security. They also get "free" healthcare, some could say. They get a housing allowance, and they get to travel on tax payer dollars.

But let us take a look at those incentives for a minute. Job security- yes they are needed, but they are training and learning, and then doing a job that in MANY cases is kill or be killed. These people face their own mortality day in and day out, even in training. You don't have to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan to risk being killed in the military. Now training fatalities are not all that common, but it happens. Devastating injuries also happen, that ruin job security.

Free healthcare, not so much! Yes it is true that if you use base/post medical facilities you will not get a bill, but they still pay taxes, and look at all that these families give up that is non monetary. These families spend many months apart, they frequently move and have to start making friends all over, not knowing how long the current orders will last. They live be a set of rules that may seem fussy, antiquated and strange to civilians (like while in uniform you can only use a black umbrella). So while, they do not pay in $$$ for healthcare, they end of paying a higher price than we civilians do.

Housing allowances is the least the military could do, since these people move around so much! Besides a soldier does his/her job better and can better focus (and stay alive and well) if he/she isn't worried about how to pay the rent. I'm all for helping out with housing if it allows for a little less stress, and a better focused military!

Last but not least the travel! These people are not exactly on vacation. When in a foreign destination our soldiers are spending an inordinate amount of time working and doing a job that the majority of us really don't want to do. So when they get a free weekend to relax and blow of steam and enjoy the culture of where they are I'm all for it. Morale is a huge part of the sucess of the unit.

But back to Arlington. As I walk along the rows and think about the men and the women there, and their families I'm reminded of just how precious America is and how much our soldiers sacrifice for us each and every day. They give up their freedoms, their pleasure time, so that I can have mine in abundance. Each headstone represents someone who loved this country so much, someone who understood honor and duty.

Arlington evokes more emotion in me than any other site in DC. And to go to the Tomb of the Unknowns is a tear jerker for me. I get all choked up. I think about the men that are still missing, the men that are unidentified and I am thank them for their service, and hope that someday we will know who they are, so we can properly thank their families. Our soldiers couldn't do what they do if they didn't have the support of friends and family to fall back on. To know that someone cares.

Even thinking about it makes me smile, because I know that I am in a country that is so blessed. It is the best country to be able to call home. May God continue to bless America, and may America return to worshiping the true God!

-JLK/PRT-