With today’s all volunteer military, fewer families are affected by the realities of war. Family members don’t go off and leave loved ones behind, perhaps never to see them again. They don’t stand guard all night so others might sleep. Their throats don’t tighten when they hear about today’s death toll, or the phone rings unexpectedly. They don’t know that sometimes battle scars are hidden behind forced smiles and sleepless nights.

 People often confuse the purpose of Veterans Day versus Memorial Day. Memorial Day honors the thousands of brave men and women who gave their lives serving their country and its ideals. Veterans Day honors ALL of the men and women who wore their military uniforms in service of their country, including the millions who survived. Allow me to read something for you….

When Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner" almost 200 years ago, he called America, "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Those words are as true today as they were then.

Throughout this Nation's history, America's soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and coastguardsmen have bravely answered the call to defend our freedom, to aid our friends and allies, and to turn back aggressors.

We can never fully repay our debt of gratitude to the more than 650,000 American servicemembers who died in battle or the 1.4 million who were wounded. We can, however, recognize and thank the 25 million veterans still living today.

These words are inscribed on the Korean War Memorial in Washington D.C. :

"Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."

Those words apply equally to many of our World War I, World War II, Vietnam War and Gulf War veterans as well. They apply to today's active duty servicemembers - tomorrow's veterans - who are helping to maintain peace throughout the world.

Today it is our privilege to say "thank you" to all of America's veterans, to let them know that we appreciate them for service and honor them for their sacrifices.

The price of freedom is high. We cannot afford to forget those willing to pay it.

Today, we celebrate America's veterans for keeping this Nation "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

President Bush has declared this week as National Veterans Awareness Week., urging Americans to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of veterans. Ironically, for those of us who deal with the homeless population, this is also Homeless Awareness Week.  In a report published in June 2008, The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimated that on any given night, 200, 000 veterans are homeless and 400,000 veterans will experience homelessness within a year. Other sources report those numbers as much higher. All of the sources agree that 1 in 4 homeless people are a veteran. I tried finding a state by state breakdown of those numbers and the latest I found was a report from 2006 which posted Michigan with over 3,500 homeless vets. There were only ten other states with a higher number, but I would think with Michigan’s current economy our number would be a lot higher now. As someone who is a veteran and has experienced homelessness, I’d like to see our country spend more on helping our veterans and less on illegal aliens. Every level of government, Federal – State- and Local, should be working to get these veterans into a home of their own. They deserve it.

I also urge everybody here to stop whatever you’re doing at 11am this morning to offer a moment of silence and a prayer for the thousands who gave their lives in service of this country.