We the people ask of our men and women in uniform to leave their families and friends and to proudly wear the uniform representing the Land of the free and home of the braves, to go to foreign lands and serve under some of the most intense conditions ever. THEY DO!
They spend days and nights under unimaginable threats and in most cases are robbed of their youth and part of their adulthood, so we can enjoy or ideals of freedom and the pursuit of happiness. There is no amount of money that can substitute for trauma caused by the experience of being on the battlefield, away from loved ones, without knowing you will make it out alive.
Therefore, not only do owe our veterans a great amount of gratitude, we owe them the respect we command as the greatest nation on earth. They deserve more.