Taps

[Brad]

In just over a week, most of us will take a break from our jobs and school. We will go to the beach, a ballgame or a bar-b-que. It is a great time to relax and spend time with friends and family as we kick off the summer season.

Unfortunately, most of us will not take adequate, if any, time to reflect on why we have Monday, May 25 off to pursue those activities. We will not think about those who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we enjoy.

On a cold November afternoon in 1991, I attended a Veteran’s Day ceremony at Chanute Air Force Base in the corn fields of Illinois. There were veterans from previous wars and those who had recently returned from Iraq.

I had raised my hand to take the oath to join the U.S. Navy Reserves 11 months earlier. I was a 19-year-old kid who had joined because he did not know what he wanted to study in college and to make a little money. And during my brief stint on active duty, the song Taps was nothing more than the signal that it was bed time.

However, a light turned on inside me when I heard the somber strains of Taps that day. I finally understood what it meant to wear the uniform of the United States.

I was never placed in harms way during my time in the Reserves, but on that day I was in the presence of great men who had. In their faces, I could see pride and honor. I could feel their respect and pain for their friends who did not return home.

It was one of the most moving and enlightening experiences I have had in my life. Still today, when I hear that lonely trumpet play, I have a mixture of pride, sadness and gratitude.

I ask each one of you to take time on Memorial Day to remember the men and women who died serving the United States of America.

Finally, I ran across the linked video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usk81XVsE9o&NR=1) with John Wayne telling the history of Taps. No matter your political orientation, it is worth the three minutes to listen.