Do you want to know a secret?

The hardest part of getting a top secret clearance from the government is when you don’t know they’re investigating and they’re talking to all your high school and college friends about what you drank and smoked and joined.  When I started getting calls from people I hadn’t heard from for years, it was a little disconcerting.

Soon, I found out it was about all my first assignment in the army.  I was going to be working on a top secret project called Potlid, that would lead me deep into Agent Orange in the course of my service. It took me to all kinds of strange places in Central America and Southeast Asia.  I was on a team that included at least two operatives for the CIA. One of them went out one day for a ride in the jungle and never came back. If that doesn’t creep you out, I don’t know what does.

What I do know is th
at serving my country was never a question in my mind. We dealt with wind changes that blew nerve gas in the wrong direction, political changes that placed us in the wrong place at a bad time and social changes that affected our views of the mission we were presented with. Being a soldier is not an easy job. And the difference between the jungles of Vietnam and deserts of the Middle East are much more than topographical.

We’ve been at war over there now for more than 10 years. Since the US went to war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, about 2.5 million members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and related Reserve and National Guard units have been deployed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, according to Department of Defense data. Of those, more than a third were deployed more than once. In fact, as of last year nearly 37,000 Americans had been deployed more than five times, among them 10,000 members of guard and Reserve units. Records also show that 400,000 service members have done three or more deployments.

We have never fought a war like this in the history of our country. It’s about ideology and diplomacy doesn’t seem to get us closer to resolution. There is no doubt, however, that those who are serving now are holding our country’s flag high in a world that is increasingly looking at us with a jaundiced eye.  I feel a small sigh of relief each time a unit returns. We can agree that we want our troops to come home but the reality is we’re in a place where getting out of this conflict is a very difficult prospect.  And who knows if anyone can “win”?

It was a long time before my father, the career Army officer, and I sat down to talk about my service. As a World War II vet, his allegiance was unquestioned and clearly accepted.  When he finally told me not long before he passed away that he was proud of the fact that I had chosen to serve in such a difficult time, it was a moment that I can carry in my heart forever.

Somehow, it’s even tougher now, though. My respect for today’s troops is unparalleled. I want them back. I want a world full of peace.  I want to break down the barriers between our ideologies. More understanding.  More compassion. None of this can happen too soon.  And the secret is finding the answer to this situation. I’m proud to be a veteran. Every one of us who has served has helped to make our world a better place.  Celebrate a veteran on Veteran’s Day. He or she deserves it.