Do you consider yourself lucky/fortunate/grateful for the opportunity to serve or have served?

I would have say not only all 3 but throw in there privelidged as well if that makes sense. We are part of the greatest brotherhood there is and for that I feel privelidged my country let me serve and deploy in a time of need. Absolutely a great question to wake up to and thank you for the fond memories it brought back. The deployments were hell on earth but I'd do it again for brothers.

I feel very grateful for the opportunity to serve...something my wife and I have tried to instill in our children is "serving something greater than yourself." To those that couldn't enlist for whatever reason, the opportunity to serve your community, church, or neighborhood isn't limited to military service.

I feel all three when it comes to my wife because she's a ton more than I deserve. That's very much internal. About the career? My thinking has morphed over time. 32 years of getting beat up every now and then and having a couple of skipper jobs, I tilt a bit different perhaps. I was lucky (blessed is a better word) that God placed me in this Country to serve. I'm fortunate to have worked with so many heroes. I'm grateful that I was able to keep my people alive and bring them home safe. Bottom line, those feelings are more how I feel to the external world than within. I feel proud that I "stood the watch". I miss those close that were lost over the years. Some leave us later on such as Dave Brown in the Columbia burn-up on re-entry. So it's really how you assess yourself in the mirror. That will mature over time.

SSgt (Join to see) Not everyone can qualify.
Initial entry to the service is a CHOICE I was fortunate enough to make. Have been LUCKY to have made to this point in my career, both health and development. And I am Grateful to have been FORTUNATE and LUCKY enough to have served so long for this great Nation! Some of our brothers and sisters were not so fortunate, and I strive to honor their sacrifices and carry the torch of freedom that they are no longer able to carry.

I have seen good times, bad times, hard times, bar brawls, ass whippings, trials, tribulations, illnesses, death, divorces, violence, joy, births and marriages (not necessarily in that order), promotions, demotions, IG Investigations, deployments, shenanigans.............................Through it all, when someone thanks me for serving, I respond by saying Thank you, but it is MY honor to serve.

You are on the right page. It is good to sit back and think about how fortunate we are.

SSgt (Join to see)
I feel fortunate and grateful to have served my country and my brothers and sisters.

All of the above. It is a great feeling to be able to serve this country. No matter the length of service.

I am very grateful for the opportunity that I was able to serve my country.

Very grateful. Loved every minute of it.

It was my honor to have served beside so many talented Americans.

Yes to all three. I am eternally grateful to live in a country and serve in a military where a person can go from guarding airplanes to flying airplanes. I'm not sure there are the same opportunities for advancement in other countries armed forces. Like you alluded to in your question, not everyone is physically able to serve... Doesn't make them bad people. I can't get mad at people who are color blind, have flat feet, or suffer from asthma. That said, I think that some level of national public service (military or civil/community service) would make this country even better than it already is. Your response is a very classy way to say thanks to the folks for whom you serve.