What Can We Learn From Veteran's Day?

I was invited to talk this morning at an Intermediate school here in the Upstate and as I prepared myself to make sure I made their event the best it could possibly be, I thought about what I wanted to share with them.

This is my first Veteran's Day as a 'Veteran', having retired after 23 years in the Army back in January of this year. It has been a whole year of firsts for me, but this one seems to be one I am most excited about. It is an opportunity to talk about why Veterans are important in a community. After they have done their time serving in the greatest military in the world, what do they bring home that they can use to improve America? The answer: More than can be discovered or discussed in a short article. But, the hard part is that it takes work to connect the dots. Two worlds collide and communication breaks down and it is difficult to grasp hold of what, exactly, a Veteran can do for a company that makes them the right choice.

So, I prepared to talk to students ranging in age from 10-14 and I thought, how can I help them understand so we can shape this concept moving forward to preserve the honor we NEED to have for our Veterans.

This is what I came up with:

"I am honored to be able to speak to you today. Thank you for having me.

As I sat to think about how I was going to describe a Veteran so you could understand, the descriptive words that came to mind seemed to fall short or seemed overused. What I quickly realized is that Veterans are just like everyone else. What I mean is that we can figure out who they are by what they say, what they do, and who their friends are just like I can figure out who you are by the same measure.

So, I set out to figure out what a Veteran is by looking at these things. First I looked at what they say. They say during their oath of enlistment:

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

“One day my grandson said to me, grandpa were you a hero in the war? And I said to him no I'm not a hero, but I have served in a company full of them.” MAJ Dick Winters
I want you to notice that there aren’t any conditions on this. No statement that says they will do all those things “IF the country feeds me or IF it gives me a place to live.” An oath of Service can’t be conditional.

Next, let’s look at what a Veteran does: They leave their families and friends to join a band of brothers and sisters that will become their new family. They give everything they have to do their part to make sure that every mission is a success. They put others before themselves. They strive every day to be better mentally and physically than the day before because they owe that to their team. They understand that technology is a powerful asset, but that the people that control that technology are even more important.

When we look at the company they keep, it is easy to see that, although they all come from different backgrounds, religions, states, and others they are fundamentally the same. They surround themselves with those that do what they say they will do and will go to the ends of the earth to achieve victory.

Major Richard Winters, who you may know from the Mini-series “Band of Brothers” said “One day my grandson said to me, grandpa were you a hero in the war? And I said to him no I'm not a hero, but I have served in a company full of them.”

Above all else, I think Veterans are someone who know themselves. They are tested from the first day of basic training. Some of those tests are to find out what they can do. Can they run two miles? Can they walk 12 miles with a heavy pack on their back? Other tests are to find out what they are made of. Can they be trusted? How far can they push themselves mentally and physically before they can’t go any further? How do they act when things around them seem to be going wrong? The constant testing sharpens them and makes them capable and it builds trust with those around them who endure it with them.

Here is the great thing about what we can learn from Veterans. You don’t have to join the service to be like them. You can push yourself beyond your comfort zone all on your own. You can find a friend to endure hard things with and push each other and really learn about yourself.

It’s great that we have a day where we honor Veterans, and for me, I think about all the hard things that Veterans who served before me had to endure to make my life better both by helping us learn better ways to go about fighting our enemies to ensure our victories, but also their individual sacrifices that made them who they are and shaped the way we do things here in America.

I hope this Veteran’s Day you take time to learn about what makes Veterans great and you try to be like them: 1. Learn as much as you can about the world around you. 2. Build trust with your friends and family members by doing hard things that you can only get through together. And 3. Serve each other unconditionally."

If you're a Veteran in the Upstate, please join our Upstate Veterans Business Network and help us strengthen the community by teaming up with other Veterans.

Originally posted: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-can-we-learn-veterans-day-jason-schulz?trk=prof-post