Dear Wisconsin Veteran,

I would first like to thank you today while you are on your way home from visiting the memorials, for fighting for our country. Whether you were fighting in the skies with the the Air Force, fighting on the ground with the Army, or clashing on the seas with the Navy, I thank you. Although many citizens in the U.S. say they will stand up and fight for our country, many do not stay true to that promise. But veterans are the MVPs because they gave that sacrifice.

I would like to introduce myself. I am a senior in high school and with graduation on its way, I hope to be able to fulfill my dream of going to college or enlisting into the United States Air Force. I find it honorable that when you were my age, you decided to leave your everyday life and serve with the very best. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for you to leave family and friends behind while you went to fight with our country’s bravest. While I may not know what that feeling is myself yet, I have a good idea of what it was like from listening to stories from grandpa, who is a veteran.

While I know there were multiple hardships you had seen and experienced through your time in military, I wish some of that pressure would be taken off of you and put on to me. I am able to take on some of the burden you wear, as I am in a volunteer service called the Civil Air Patrol in which we are the U.S.A.F. auxiliary and do everything the Air Force does exactly as they say it except for combat. When I put on that uniform (whether it’s my Class A Blues or my ABUs), I feel some of the burden from fighting in Germany or Japan during WWII, or the jungles of Korea taken off of your shoulders and put onto mine.

Any time I am in those uniforms, I think of you, the very heart and soul of the military no what branch you served. Any time those uniforms are worn, I feel a part of brother and sisterhood that relies on each other for support especially from you, the veterans. You are the heart of every single branch, you are the soul that brings this entire country together and we can never thank you enough.

Thank you for your service and sacrifice.