In a Soldier’s Voice! Honoring our Veterans on Veterans Day – First Hand

November 11, 2013

Shutterstock.com/Aleksandrs Bondars

LISTEN NOW! Greg, Steve, and Pat honor veterans on Veterans Day as they share perspective of what our brave men and women in the military have done and are currently doing to protect our freedom because freedom is not free. They continue to share how our veterans have fought for us now we need to fight for them and make sure they are receiving the health care they need. Steve who served two tours of duty in Iraq puts us there as he shares in graphic detail a day in the life of military personnel who are on the front lines defending freedom for us. He begins to share how no day is alike. Every day is full of missions and intelligence gathering. You never know who is friendly and who is the enemy. Steve shares that sometime the friendliest people he encountered in war were actually the most deadliest. Every day there was a constant reminder of being aware of three things, horse, saddle, and man. Horse means you are always checking your weapon system, saddle refers to your truck and your transportation and man refers to man which means you think of yourself last. Steve shares how he went through two years of significant training before being deployed as the military would say “operational”. He describes when he was deployed to war that his job was not a 9 to 5 but a 24 hour, 7 day a week job. They continue to share perspective so that as Americans we can honor, appreciate and empathize with our veterans who have fought for us. Steve shares accounts from the war zone that give us a perspective of the tensions and stresses our soldiers face on a continual basis on the frontlines. He had to disassociate his emotions. He had to turn off his emotions because allowing himself to feel emotions could cause him or his fellow soldier to get killed. He further discusses what it is like for soldiers to re-enter civilian life. They continue to discuss and give perspective so that Veterans Day is not just another day on our calendar or just about having a day off from school or work but actually a day that we pause and honor those who have bravely fought and still fight today for our freedom in our great nation. Steve continues to share what it was like to transition back into civilian life after he spent four years at war. He decided to go back to waiting tables and found out that he was unprepared to deal with

Little Iraqi Boy with his breakfast bowl

the public because his emotions were all over the place. He went through a difficult time adjusting to civilian life and experiencing first hand with how Americans were quite different and selfish and how most had no grid of what it’s like in another country. He shares one account where an elderly woman he was waiting on in a restaurant went off on him and put her finger in his face and screamed at him because he forgot her ranch dressing. He actually shut down and in that great stress he actually visualized seeing himself punching this woman in the neck and killing her. It was in that moment of brokenness he cried out to God and asked him to reveal himself. The moment he did he felt this overwhelming feeling and a great pressure came off of him. Steve shares in detail the steps he took as God drew him to Him. He gave his life to Jesus; he got connected to the family of God, was discipled and became a follower of Jesus Christ. They continue to encourage civilians to have empathy for our soldiers as they are transitioning back into society and they also encourage all veterans and anyone else who doesn’t know God to cry out to him just like Steve did. Jesus will change your life; he will save you and set you free so you can begin to enjoy true freedom.