A Belated Veterans Day Thought

[nofearengineer]

On Veteran's Day I was going through some of the stuff my Dad left to me, and I came across one of those ribbon things the military puts on their left chest of their dress uniforms that shows their awards and campaigns they served in.

It was yellow with red stripes on it, and after some research, I found out that it was for serving in Viet Nam. It was really neat, visualizing it pinned on his uniform some 40 years ago, when I was still too small for even a Snoopy fishing rod. And it also made me think a lot about how even though my Dad was a big hippie, and probably hated everything about Viet Nam, he must have been proud of his service to keep that.

Oddly enough, my Dad didn't get drafted...he joined the Army right before Viet Nam to piss off his control-freak mother. Angry young men can be so dumb. I guess I have that little argument to thank for my existence though, since he lived in California, and got stationed near Indiana where my mother grew up.

My Dad passed away this January, and his army photos and souvenirs really lent a personal touch to this Veterans Day. Anyways, thanks Dad, for your service.