As you or your friends play some of your favorite games today, please try to remember that many of your co-workers or family members may at one point have served your country( whatever country that may be) in a military capacity.  

In the US (Veterans Day) or Canada (Remembrance Day) today is a special day to take time to appreciate the sacrifices that those who have served have made.

For most Veterans, they are not looking for anything other than people to reflect on what they have as a result of the sacrifices given.  I myself served in the US Marine Corps from 1989-1994.  I spent 2 years stationed in Okinawa Japan.  I also spent time on deployment in South Korea and over 2 years in 29 Palms California.  Even though I served during the first Gulf War, I never saw any action as I was in Japan at the time.

If you know any veterans or active duty military, please take the time to at least acknowledge them if you can.  

If you know of anybody that you would like to acknowledge to the Chartz community, please post below their names and what service they were in.

I would like to thank my grandfather Russel T. for serving in the US Army during WWII.

I would also like to thank my uncle Gary T. for serving in the US Marine Corps During the Vietnam War.

I would also like to thank my sister Wendy W. for serving in the US Army.

I celebrate it as if it were still considered armistice day. Rather than thank veterans for sacrifices (all people make sacrifices in this world, I don't consider sacrifice a virtue, it is just the natural law of trading something for something else), I think I'd rather thank those veterans (and non-veterans) who chose (and continue to choose) to minimize destruction so that conflict and aggression might be resolved in peaceful, voluntary, and cost-effective means. Anyway, my point is that I acknowledge people for their individual accomplishments, not their decisions to partake in high opportunity costs, nevertheless I like the concept of armistice day, so I celebrate what it means to avoid destructive conflict when it is necessary.

I agree, the point of thanking a veteran or active duty military person is to appreciate that their sacrifice has been made to give you or your family the opportunity to have peace.  Armistace Day, the day that the peace agreements were signed to end a World War.  To get to that day, many people sacrificed not just a little food or a weekend helping others or donating to a worthy cause.  They made the ultimate sacrifice(or trade in your thoughts) - they sacrificed their lives for ours and many others to have the life we have today.  

Unfortunately, without having as military presence as a deterent, all of the peace that prevails over a majority of the world would not exist.  Some day, there may be no need of the worlds military.  We can only hope that day comes sooner rahter than later.

I wish it were that simple, but unfortunately in my eyes those sacrifices are too high of a cost for the minimal advantage that might've been gained to the average person. I don't value people throwing their lives away for the cause of a state. I find it very unfortunate, and impersonal. It is a very collectivist mindset with a disrespect for the individual. World War I did not happen because of the familes of the men who died had ill will towards the people these men were fighting, it happened because of a conflict among elites and the powerful in the respective countries. The actions of both sides of men showed a surrender of individual moral responsibility to these authories as well, which I don't value. If there is any emotion I have for the soldiers who die it is sadness and a sense of lossed potential, not thankfulness. These wars were not defensive nor were they productive endeavors, so it isn't like I or anybody else I know gained anything from them. They are the accumulation of decades (even centuries) of bad feelings and overly strong alliances between a few thousand persons in respective countries.

That is beside the point, though. My point is that it isn't the sacrifice that makes such actions good and virtuous (to me), it is the summed effects of the actions. I don't thank a doctor who heals me because he/she went to college and medical school for many years (sacrificing part of his/her life), must be on call for very long hours, has emotional trauma from the deaths of patients, and experiences a considerable amount of stress, etc, etc. I thank the doctor because he/she healed me. The same is true for the veterans. If a veteran protects me, my family, friends, or even a stranger I don't know from being murdered, stolen from, or enslaved by an aggressor I'd thank them not because they are a "veteran" who sacrificed a part of themselves, but because they did the right thing by protecting somebody from an aggressor. Having an insignia, epaulettes, and/or being employed by an institution which specializes in defense (or any other market) doesn't make a difference for me when considering a good act. There are many "civilians" who do such acts. There are many "veterans" who do such acts. I thank those individuals. There are also many civilians and many veterans who have not done those acts (even if they would when presented with the situation.) 

But, I don't want to get off-topic in your thread which is meant for people to thank veterans. I just wanted to express why I don't thank veterans for being veterans in title, and how I like to celebrate armistice day by thanking (in my mind) all of those people who helped end such a war rather than perpetuate it (both types exist among military and civilians.) 

Wow, hard to respond without sounding like an asshole.  

I guess it's too bad that you believe that only 1% of those that serve give a shit.  I can't disagree that many serve with the intent to take advantage of the few bonuses of dicounted education, low pay, poor healthcare and free breakfast at Denny's once or twice a year.  I think that you need to think back to the first gulf war or the begining of the second.  Only a handful of those who didn't give a shit deserted.  So, if the poeple who signed up didn't really give a shit as much as you imply, they would have run for the hills.  Also, anyone signing up in the last 10 years did so knowing that they might or will end up in the combat areas.  Of course, there is always that % of people who are no good no matter the situation.

I guess my point is, don't blame people for taking the small positives the military does offer for serving and assume that was the reason people served. Maybe I just served with a different group of people.  Most of the people I served with were good people, but of course there were a few that always did the minimum and hated the decision they made to join.  

To me, Veterans Day and Memorial day are pretty much the same.  They both seem to represent a time to acknowledge those that have fallen and those that made it home alive.