Do you feel Veterans Day events are really understood by those who have never served?

Do people who have never served, really understand the sacrifice active duty service members and veterans have made?
- No. About 330 million Americans and less than 1% have ever served. A percentage may know of the sacrifice but an even smaller percentage understands the sacrifice.
- Your question shows that you yourself have a limited understanding in that you left out the National Guard and Reserve who have sacrificed just as much as the active component since 2001 to the present (not to mention prior to that).
- I have served for over 22 years and even my extended family and my wife's family have a limited understanding of my family's (wife/daughters) and my sacrifice.
- I don't think this was always true. The WWII generation either actually served themselves or had an immediate family member who served. This is not true today.

When someone says thank you or I appreciate your service, do they really understand or even know what they are thanking you for?
- Again no but saying thank you is at least a start point to begin understanding. Even this small step was not done for our Vietnam veterans.

Pushing patriotism out of schools and public places. Will future generations not be as appreciative?
- Absolutely yes and this can have potentially extreme negative consequences for our nation. We have only those freedoms that we are willing to fight for and defend. If people do not value the contributions of veterans then they will be less willing to volunteer themselves and thus less willing to fight for and defend their freedoms. Plus people need to understand that freedom is earned by every generation and is not necessarily a birthright.

LCpl Steve Wininger, I think COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM and CW5 (Join to see) have both made some fair points. I come down on the side that they don't understand us, and they can't. There is a growing divide, one that there are several other RP topics on. We don't fully understand them nor do they fully understand us. I suspect most of the time when they thank us for our service they do so to feel slightly better about themselves: "I thanked a vet today." I don't think they want to think about what we've endured, what we've purchased or at what price. I think sometimes we don't want to think about it either, maybe if we could we would be just as ignorant, mumble a simple "thank you" and never need to wrestle with whether it was worth this Sgt or that Private's life to buy a small peace of dirt in Afghanistan or Iraq that we have since abandoned. We would never have to confront whether our actions have increased or decreased freedom at home over the past 13 years. But we do. We must, we bear this burden of thoughtfulness, and we owe it to our fallen comrades to think on the price, and what was purchased. And whether it is worth it, and whether we can get it more cheaply, or whether we need to reconsider our what we ought to be buying.

Semper Fidelis, Happy MC Birthday and Happy Veterans day.

LCpl Steve Wininger, I do think that most Americans "get it" and appreciate the sacrifices of military members and their families. They won't completely understand the sacrifices because they haven't experienced them themselves, but I do think the support is genuine.

That support is probably enhanced by the news media reporting on the sacrifices, the stories about long deployments, short dwell times, etc. That's how most Americans get their information, so it's swell that the TV news presents a fair number of stories about our military.

Plus, top politicians frequently say thank you and make a point of talking up the contributions of our military. I think there's been a surge in patriotism since 9/11/2001. In our recent history there have been ups and downs on this issue. I think that post-9/11 has been an up period.