By Dr. Oliver Hedgepeth
Program Director, Government Contracts and Acquisition at American Military University
Our little town here had a parade on the Fourth of July and there was a young man waiting at the curb in the sweltering sun with two little girls. I’m a sucker for little kids. The girls were hot and sweaty and we had brought a small cooler with bottled water so we shared. As local servicemen marched by, the young man shared that his wife is serving in Afghanistan.
He could have been angry and bitter at his wife’s deployment, which means he has get supper on the table, help with homework, and ferry the girls to activities, but he said he’s grateful for the role model his wife is for their daughters.
He is also grateful, he said with a laugh, for his parents and his wife’s parents. Both sets of grandparents live within 10 miles and frequently bring over dinner and other goodies for the girls.
His words made me stop and think. We should be a grateful nation for the family of servicemen and women we have working to secure our freedom here and abroad. Do we show it often enough?
Here are some suggestions for showing our gratitude to a loved one or someone from your community:
- Send postcards and letters. E-mail is good for a quick communication but nothing beats seeing your scrawl on a couple of sheets of paper with maybe a heart to signify your love. My wife’s dad served in the Army under Gen. George Patton and in Germany and France and she cherishes the letters he sent to her mother when they were newlyweds. He even managed a picture of himself with a few of those letters. He sent postcards from wherever he was. Both her parents are deceased now and that gives even greater significance to her dad’s hand-written love notes.
- Send pictures.
- Send care packages.
[Related: Volunteers Wanted, Now!]
You can also support the troops by participating in efforts like American Military University’s Thanking Those Who Serve” campaign. It takes just a few seconds to create a post card that will mean a lot to someone on active duty.
Lifelong learning is about all the achievements we make during our lifetime. While many of us get to have success in our careers and as students, let us not forget those who cannot follow that path of success because their lives were cut short during service to our country. We cannot know what their lifelong achievements may have been, but we do know that we all benefited from their service.
[Related: Making the Transition from the Military to a Civilian Career]
About the Author: Dr. Oliver Hedgepeth is the program director for Government Contracts and Acquisition at American Public University (APU). He is the former program director of Reverse Logistics Management and Transportation and Logistics Management. Prior to joining APU, Dr. Hedgepeth was a tenured associate professor of Logistics and chair of the Logistics Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage. His book, RFID Metrics, was published in 2007 by CRC Press and is in revision.
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