What Does Veterans Day Mean To You? BY: CAITLIN BOWLES

What Does Veterans Day Mean To You? BY: CAITLIN BOWLES

Veterans Day Veterans day is on Friday, November 11. Bowling Green always has a Veterans Day parade for the Veterans here. The parade is in downtown Bowling Green and it occurred on Saturday, November 5. The parade features many different things like firefighters and police officers that have served and are still serving for our town. It also features some of the political people from Kentucky such as, Brett Guthrie and some of the judges that are here in Bowling Green. Another thing they do at the parade is the marching band, ROTC and the color guard of High schools like Greenwood, Warren East, Warren Central, South Warren and Bowling Green. There are also many people that have served in the Military that dress in there uniforms to be there for the parade.

Showing Respect There were many people there that were dressed in there Military uniforms. During the parade there was a man beside us that was dressed in his uniform. He was a General for the Army. As other veterans would pass by him they would salute each other as a sign of respect. One part of the parade they had Harley Davidson motorcycles that had flags on the back of the them. When the motorcycles passed by many people got off of there bikes to shake the Generals hand. Big Red in honor of the firefighters was also there and he was one of the many people who saluted the General.

Greenwood Our school even payed respect to the veterans and the ones still serving. Our color guard, band and ROTC were there. The band marched with Bowling Green and South Warren. The Color Guard also spun flags with the other schools. Our ROTC showed respect by carrying the flags and marching. It was good to see that our school showed plenty of respect to the Military and the Veterans that we have in Bowling Green. I even seen Mr. Blakeman from Greenwood walking and supporting in the parade.

The Fun In It All Even though the parade was full of emotion and tears, there was three special somebody's to lighten up the atmosphere. Three men, dressed in clown suits drove through on their motorcycles, honked their horns, and even brought laughter from the whole crowd. They did their tricks and rode on through the parade. Seeing smiles made the event even more special. I myself am scared of clowns, but the thought really opened my eyes. I feel if the clowns didn t ride through, it would have been to sad.

My Uncle Chris My Uncle Chris is one of the reasons that I had such a good time at the parade. My uncle is a Major in the Marines. He has traveled all over the world for the Military. He has been to Iraq 3 times, Afghanistan 1 time, Africa and also the country Georgia. He graduated from Warren Central in 1990. He went to basic training at Parris Island, South Caronlina in 1991. He then attended Texas A&M to become an officer in the Marines. Chris graduated from Texas A&M in 2000. He then went to Camp Penalton in San Diego where he is still stationed today. He has also been stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. I had a good time at the parade because I had someone to look up to and be proud of at the parade.

Becoming a Major It took Chris a long time to become a Major in the Marines. It took him 19 years to get through all of the ranks in the Military. You have to be an officer before you can become a Major. To become an officer you have to go to officer- canidate school which is how he was able to become a Marine and even better a Major. He just recently got pinned which also means he got promoted to be a Major. It took many deployments before he could finally be able to get promoted. He got promoted when he got back from his first trip to Afghanistan. Even though he did not have ROTC training in high school he still enlisted and is proud to be where he is today.

First Deployments His first deployments were to Iraq. He went there 3 times and just recently got back from Afghanistan. It was a very scary thing knowing that I was going to be shipped of to a forgein country away from my family during a war. It was terrifying Chris said. On Chris first deployment trip he was in a picture in a magazine and also in a small part of a movie. He was featured in the movie Taking Chance who was a new solider that got killed. Chris was in the field together when they both got ambushed. At the beginning of the movie you can hear people on the radio and Chris is one of the people talking on there. Chris was happy to make it home safe after his first deployments. He sadly knew that he was going to have to soon go back.

Being away from family My Uncle and my Aunt just had a brand new baby boy named Zach when Chris was sent away to Afghanistan 7 weeks later. The hardest part about being in the military is being away from my family during deployment. We all missed Chris dearly while he was gone but we sometimes got an occasional phone call. The only bad thing about the phone calls was he was not allowed to say where he was and where he would be anytime soon. They did not want to give away where they were going or going to be so that is why he can not say where he was. We did not know if he would be okay and we desperately wanted to know where he would be. We all got through it and knew that he would protect himself and others because he is such a brave person. Being away from all of us was very hard and it was hard to see him go but we all knew he was doing it for a really good reason. To protect this country and the people in it.

New deployment We just recently found out that Chris was going to have to go back to Afghanistan. This time is not like the others. This time he just got back from Georgia the country and just recently had his second son, Aiden. He is going to be gone for a whole year this time and he has never been gone that long before. The only good thing about this time is it will be his last. He is going to Afghanistan and when he gets back he will not be re-enlisting in the Marines again. It is bittersweet that he has to leave because we don t want to see him go but we know it will be his last time. He is being deployed February and will not get back until the next february. We do not want to see him go but we know it is for the best. We will miss him dearly this time more than any other because he will be gone for so long.

Why Veterans Day Is So Important To Me Veterans day is important to me because of Chris. It makes me very proud to say I have an uncle that has served and is still serving. Veterans day is special to me because I feel for the families of veterans and the ones that have served. There are many soliders that did not make it through the war. Veterans day is a day shared by everyone including the families that lost someone. Veterans day should be shared by everyone because we have the Veterans and the ones serving still to thank for our freedom. I am very thankful for all of the ones in foreign places for this country and the ones that have shared their time. I am also very thankful for the families that have endured hardship because of loosing there loved ones during this hard time. This is why I really appreciate Veterans day.