Our military is one of the strongholds of our nation, in my opinion. There are five military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. They all serve very important and unique purposes but they are all cogs in our nation's greatest asset (again, my opinion). People outside of the military like to poke fun at certain branches and I find it aggravating to the point of hair-pulling. I don't think there are nearly enough people that truly know how important each and every single military man and woman is to our great country. I start by saying an enormous THANK YOU to past, present and future military men and women. You are the reason that our nation is great!
One of my greatest pet peeves is for someone to generalize and stereotype the military about big-ticket issues like sexual harassment and assault, post-traumatic stress disorder, and on and on. Let's be honest: unless you've actually served and gone through it, you have no clue what you're talking about. Yes, military spouses/families are probably the closest ones to understanding but even THEY don't fully understand everything about the military. Do bad things happen within military branches? Yes. Should we focus every bit of our attention on it and concern ourselves with the negatives of that instead of the amazingly positive aspects of what our soldiers fight for on a daily basis? I certainly do not believe so.
Another pet peeve is generalizing returning servicepeople with PTSD as "crazy" or "ticking time bombs." I've read more than enough articles and heard the comments from people. PTSD does not make you crazy, nor does it mean that you're going to fly off the handle. There is not enough education on the topic, nor is the government doing a good enough job offering resources to our returning servicemen (and women) . Having never been in combat, I have no idea what it's like for them but I know that it cannot be easy for them to just try to return home and get back into the daily grind without some help. Instead of focusing all of our attention on paying our governmental officials more than they'll ever spend or use, why don't we focus some of our attention on taking care of our military personnel at ALL levels of the military?
Finally, I'd like to cover the general disregard for military families. Quite frankly, these men and women of all ages hold the house and home together while their soldiers are gone. They, not only, deal with life as single parents essentially but they also have to try to deal with the emotions, responsibilities, and everything else that comes with their soldier being away. Add on the fact that they're having to worry 24/7 about what's going on, whether or not their spouse/son/dad (or the gender-happy daughter/mom so I don't get accused of being sexist) is safe and how much longer this is going to go on. They often have to go stretches of days, weeks and (sometimes) months between getting to hear their loved ones' voices and have to settle for emails or letters. I could go on for hours but I think you understand the gest of it. Give a military family a hug. They probably need it.
I doubt there is enough words to even express my gratitude to every service person on the planet (and their families) so I simply say this: Thank You!
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