Veteran’s Day thoughts

Posted on 12 November 2009 by Anastacia Thorsson | Comments

So, like Elaina I was going to post about why I joined the Coast Guard…but in sitting down to write it I got all tangled up because I have a little issue on Veteran’s Day.

Myself, my father Capt. David Visneski USCG Ret. and my brother 1st LT John Visneski US Airforce.

I know this will sound silly, but I always get embarrassed when someone thanks me on Veteran’s Day for my service.  I just get all flustered when someone thanks me…because I am just someone who loves the Coast Guard, our missions, and strongly believes that serving your country citizens is something everyone should do in some fashion. I am no hero.

So instead of simply listing out how I joined the Coast Guard, I thought I would talk about the people that are heroes to me.

You see both of my grandfathers served in the military in war times. One grandfather retired as a Senior Chief from the Coast Guard.  My mother’s brothers both served, one Navy and one Coast Guard. My aunt served in the Navy. My father served 27 years in the Coast Guard. My brother just got his commission in the Air Force and soon will be deployed to the war.  My husband is  Navy and just returned from being deployed to Afghanistan.  My husband’s sister is in the Marine Corps and has done several tours in Iraq, while raising a family. These people? They are my heros.  To me they are the veterans to thank today.

Gary Watry, USN...my uncle and one of my heroes.

Last year, my uncle passed away very suddenly. It was strange as I sat there at the memorial, it was like my heart had been removed from inside me and replaced with a bell…like you might hear some misty morning from a great cathedral. It tolled within me and it was all I could hear and I wondered if my cousin could feel the ringing through my finger tips as I held her hand.

My uncle was an amazing man. He lived all over the world before I was old enough to really understand what a big world it was. He had a wry dry wicked sense of humor. He was proud to be in the Navy and that sometimes led to ribbing about the Coast Guard, as is the nature of our sister services.  He made me want to see the world with all his amazing stories and the things he brought back from his travels. He and the rest of my family made me want to be a better person, to be a part of not just our family by blood, but the family that comes with service to others.
At his memorial, standing with my family watching a flag being folded to the mournful cry of Taps I looked around and realized that it might very well be in my blood to serve my country. I am deeply honored to be a part of that. I had to smile just a little through my tears just then, proud of where I come from, proud of my family, serving others is in our blood…and to me there is nothing more noble to strive for. I want to make them proud.
Family is defined as a group of people related to one another by blood or marriage…such a plain way to describe something that is so much more complex, more rich… the very sustenance for our hearts when we can find no hope, to laugh at us when we take ourselves just too seriously, to pick up the pieces, who ask us to do no less than the impossible…so much more than blood or marriage.

So on Veterans Day, these are the people I think about along with all those who are serving over seas, who have never come home to kiss their children goodnight, who have come home broken, who have paid prices many could never dream of. The heroes who go out in the dark of night to save a life, those who put others before themselves. It would be my honor someday to be counted among their numbers. They are the veterans, they are the heroes,  and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.