Opinion : If you get too full of yourself, go to a military funeral

In the last couple of years I've been privileged to spend a lot of time around hundreds of military people. You wouldn't think that in the midst of Iowa cornfields, and honestly it all started when I had a glimpse of a dear aunt that rose through the ranks of the Air Force to Lt. Colonel. As she became sick, it was apparent that a trip, or several to San Antonio from Iowa, would give me the chance to be saturated in military friendships.

It was understood that this gal was unashamedly a veteran. She didn't take lightly anyone who put down any branch of the military. What I didn't realize was that this little lady commanded respect from most that she passed in San Antonio.

I'll never forget as we passed through the gates of one of the military bases in Texas, she had insisted on sitting in the back seat, and from there she handed her military ID to the soldiers at the gate. They looked at it, looked at her, returned her ID, wished her a good day and then snapped a salute to her.

I wasn't expecting to see that. The little gal that stood barely five feet if that, just made a 6-foot soldier acknowledge her service without a word. It was then that I realized she was more special than I had realized.

I really did do a double-take. She had downplayed her role in the military, and being dumb civilians we didn't have a clue the treasure that we had in her.

The months that I had the privilege of being by her side, and the hours of conversation that we shared, are probably some of the highlights of my life. Sure, on one hand, she was a wiser and older woman with a lot of life experience, but she was very good at acting like she was just a normal run of the mill gal.

I thought of her a few weeks ago as I attended the funeral of a young man that went missing in action during World War II. She had lived a fairly long life, and spent it serving her country. He, on the other hand, had barely enlisted before being killed in action.

Most of the surviving family only knew him through the stories that were passed down or the letters that were saved that he had written home. I on the other hand soaked up as much wisdom from the little Lt. Colonel as I could.

But both, on the day that it was time to say goodbye, were honored in ways that only the military can honor.

There is something about sitting at a military funeral that makes you feel like you've done nothing.

And while every possible effort that could have been made to show honor to the little gal that shared her life with us, it honestly felt like it couldn't have been enough to thank her.

As I sat at the funeral for a young man, whose life was snuffed out because of war, I grieved again for a military veteran that didn't get to come home and have a family of his own. I grieved for the stories that he didn't get to share with the family seated in the front rows of the church.

But I think I grieved more that we had lost a young man that fought for me, before I was even born, and I didn't have the chance to thank him.

I was just one of several attendees at the funeral that day. I came and observed, took pictures and wrote about his return.

The privilege of attending both of these funerals reminded me again, that .5% of the population was willing to sign on the dotted line, risking their lives for us. In the one case serving over 20 years for us, the other paying with his life, and my role was simply to say thank you.

I could leave it there, but I feel like my role is to do so much more than that. My role is to live life the very best that I can. Not taking the freedom that I have lightly. When I walk outside on land that I own, it's not to take for granted that I can do just about anything that I want to on it, in part because of these two people. Because of the neighbor down the road. Because of the dear veterans that meet at the Legion and raise funds most weeks so that they can simply have a place to meet. Because of all of them, I can write on this website and say whatever I want.

Military funerals are always a somber reminder of the minority of the population that protects us. Sometimes they still suffer sometimes in their bodies for us. Some still have nightmares for us.

They never ask anything of us, and unfortunately, we've seen how they have to beg us to take care of them as they age.

It's not Veteran's day, it's not Memorial Day. It's just another day. It's just one more every day, that our veterans fought for.

From one grateful citizen, thank you.