11-11-11

It doesn't matter why they did it.

It may have been to get money for school, or, perhaps, to pay off loans from school. It may have been to learn a skill that could become a career. It may have simply been to do something different, something unexpected.

Patriotism or a desire to serve may not have been factors at all in the decision.

But still, they did it.

And they did it understanding that it could require the utmost sacrifice.

Their lives.

They did something that most people won't do. In so doing, they became the buffer zone between threat and those who chose different paths. Their service, in fact, made it possible for others to choose those different paths, to do so with freedom.

They were vigilant protectors of everything that is cherished in this country. Even if their motivations were less than selfless, they served with no fanfare, no sense that anybody owed them anything for their service.

When they were done, they resumed normal lives among those who would never know what it was like to do the things they did, see the things they saw. They often wondered how they made it through that time, but eventually concluded it was through the friendships they made.

These friendships will be remembered forever, for the bonds forged by such adversity are unbreakable.

Here's to those who did it.

It doesn't matter why they did it.

Just that they did.