Wartime Veterans are Built Different

Wartime veterans are just built different.

We didn’t start dating until we were ready to get married. Everything was a whirlwind, but when you know, you know. The only problem was an Iraq deployment hanging over our heads. The war was…heated at that point. I was terrified of losing everything before even having anything. One night, I told him for the zillionth time, “I don’t want you to go.” But this time, I followed it up with what I thought was a rhetorical “why do you have to go?”

At the time, my parents had this metal-eagle-sculpture-thing that hung on the wall of our living room. Jordan was deep in thought for several long breaths and looked past me. Finally, he sighed and pulled me close.

“I don’t ever want to leave you,” he resigned. “But I’ll always see that Eagle behind you. If I’m not willing to go, I can’t expect someone else to be willing to in my place. And most of all, if I can give someone else the chance to come back home to their family, I can’t deny them that.”

And I never asked that question again after that.

Happy Veterans Day to my favorite Veteran. To the ones who went to war when everyone else went to college. To the ones who had their wills written as 19-year-olds while everyone around them was living for the weekend. To the ones who helped someone else come home. And to the ones who should be here to be thanked and celebrated, but made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.