My Good, Bad, And Ugly Experience With Combat Veterans

An older photo of historic aircraft located within the hangar
of the Pacific Aviation Museum - Ford Island, Oahu, Hawaii

Just yesterday, I crossed paths with a spouse of a combat veteran (her husband had lost his leg). She was a very nice lady, who just randomly started telling me that if I were to ever have the opportunity to live, work, and study overseas--do it.

A few minutes later, I ran into a combat veteran who had gotten shot at and landed on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). He limped his way to the door with a walking cane on one hand and insisted that I walk ahead of him while he held the door open for me.

Truthfully, I wanted to be the one to hold the door open for him, but it was clear that he still wanted to be a gentleman despite his condition. Sadly, there are men out there who no longer want to make the effort to be a gentleman--and they could walk on both legs perfectly!

I thanked him for his kind gesture as well as his service, to which he replied,

"It's been fun!"