Love the plates, punk...perfect for your Election/Veterans t'scape! And those napkins/placemats colors/pattern work so well on the black t'cloth! The pop of red in the flatware & flag ...USA! Love that raised cake platter or whatever it is called in the B&W pattern for the centerpc! Lookin' good, punk! And thank you for honoring the Vets & thanks to all the Vets serving & retired! Jeanne S.

Veteran's Day is November 11th so I assume you meant Memorial Day, formerly called Decoration Day. It also honors veterans and the front of my house is covered in flags in honor of our uncle who lived with us and died last year at age 93. He landed at Omaha Beach and men like him are honored all over the cemetarys today as we remember. It's also a day to remember lost loved ones who weren't veterans.

Not all schools are closed Monday.....some are open. There are veterans who served during war time and there are veterans who served during peace time. There are veterans who have been through both. A lot of our veterans don't look like they were in the service; in fact, many of us veteran women are overlooked. The point I'm trying to make is it's not always obvious that someone is a veteran. Don't wait until Veterans Day to thank them. Thank them daily.

"Our people, whether enlisted or drafted, most of them tried to do what they felt was the right thing to do." About half of the men I served with during my initial active duty period in the Army were draftees. All were bitter in varying degrees about having been unwillingly uprooted from their civilian lives and forced to go into the military and potentially into mortal jeopardy. Other draftees I knew, classmates, work colleagues, brothers of friends, all felt the same way. Some while unhappy about having been drafted tried to make the best of their active duty experiences to protect their own backsides. Some didn't. I have extensive personal experiences to share on this particular topic and I doubt that you do. I was in a medical reserve unit for the majority of my enlistment term. There was a large contingent of physicians who had been drafted but assigned to inactive rather than active duty. I got to know many and among them, a large percentage had been "encouraged" by the Selective Service system to go to a graduate or professional school to continue their draft deferments as students and so wound up in medical school. Many were similarly bitter about having been ultimately drafted as doctors, it wasn't what they had envisioned the outcome of their medical school draft dodging to be. A doctor treating a patient will always be a doctor treating a patient, no matter what the circumstances, but none of those I met were happy about having a military obligation. As you didn't directly answer my question about whether your husband had been drafted, I will assume that was his pathway into the military. "But, I truly believe that without them, we would already be a minion of China." Is Germany a minion of China? How about Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Switzerland, France, on and on. None of these countries has been as irresponsible with their military as the US has and as previously stated, all of them have prosperity and freedom similar to what's in the US. I think the upshot of all of this is that there are veterans whose military service defined their lives and who are ready to don their old uniforms and march in Veterans Day parades. Some who had bad experiences that perhaps didn't trigger a lifetime of hyperpatriotism but did leave them with bad memories. There are others, myself included, who look back on their military service as being the result of bad luck without too series consequences (certainly true during the draft years) or a youthful mistake and who have moved on. A vet is a vet but don't assume all are happy to get a handshake or pat on the back, many I know really couldn't care less.