We are veterans we left home as teenagers for an unknown adventure we love our country enough to defend it and protect it with our own lives we said goodbye to friends and family and everything we knew we learned the basics and then we scattered in the wind to the far corner of the earth we found new friend and family we became brothers and sisters regardless colours race or creed we had plenty of good times and plenty of bad times we didn't get enough sleep we smoke and drunk to much we picked up both good and bad habits we worked hard and played harder we didn't earn a great wage we experienced the happiness of mail call and the sadness of missing important events we didn't know when or even if we were ever going to see home again we grew up fast an yet somehow we never grew up at all we fought for our freedom as well as the freedom of others some of us saw actual combat and some of us didn't some of us dealt with physical warfare most of us dealt with psychological warfare we have seen and experienced and dealt with things that we can't fully describe or explain as not all of our sacrifices were physical we participated in time honoured ceremonies an rituals with each other strengthening our bonds and camaraderie we counted on each other to get our job done and sometimes to survive it at all we have dealt with victory and tragedy we have celebrate and mourned we lost a few along the way when our adventure was over....some of us went back home some of us started somewhere new and some of us never came home at all we have told amazing and hilarious stories of our exploits and adventures we share an unspoken bond with each other that most people don't experience and few will understand we speak highly of our own branch of service and poke fun at the other branches we know however that if needed we will be there for our brothers and sisters and stand together as one in a heartbeat being a veteran is something that had to be earned and it can never be taken away it has no monetary value but at the same time it is a priceless gift people see a veteran and they thank them for their service when we see each other we give that little upwards head nod or a slight smile knowing that we have shared and experienced things that most people have not so from myself to the rest of the veterans out there is commend and thank you for all that you have done and sacrificed for your country try to remember the good times and forget the bad times. I salute all of you