In my youth, a soldier was like a comic book hero to me, a war veteran like an award winner.
I grew up proud of my father, who was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam. But he rarely mentioned it himself.
My perspective has changed from something he won to somewhere he served.
In the last many years, I have had the privilege to interview soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. They have served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, Panama, the Gulf War and the War on Terror.
I am blessed to call several of these men and women friends.
My childhood awe was not wrong; they are special people. But it was incomplete.
As my father has sought VA benefits and become active with his local American Legion post, he has talked a little more about his military service.
As I have listened to veterans' stories, I see behind their eyes so much that they hold back.
When we, as a community or nation, honor them for their sacrifice, I'm not sure that those of us who have not worn a uniform can grasp what that word really means for them.
In Mid-Missouri, many Missouri National Guard units have deployed. Their time away from family and home is often the center of the idea of sacrifice in the civilian mind.
But I have realized the broader impact that fulfilling their oath has on these individuals. It's a sacrifice of self.
They have prioritized their lives around maintaining freedom for strangers. They freely give up their sense of security to provide it for others. They lose innocence and wonder to become highly-trained warriors.
In this increasingly self-centered and aloof society, that inward act is counter-cultural. And that selfless acceptance is as true for those who never were placed in harm's way as for those who were in battle.
For those like my father and grandfather who were in a war zone, they are forever haunted by memories they try to forget. They carry with them all of their lives the burdens of what they saw and why they were there.
To give them one day for the rest of us to be grateful simply isn't enough. As they say for Christmas, let every day be Veterans Day.