Senator Tom Brewer
43rd District
11-10-17

Veterans Day weekend is here. I’m out in the district making seven different stops for different Veterans Day events. Me and my Legislative Aide really need to get our pilot’s license up to date. The 43rd District is bigger than Connecticut. In 2021 when we redistrict the State after the census, I’m thinking it will be even bigger. There are ranches in the 43rd bigger than many of my colleague’s districts they can walk around in an afternoon. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s the best part of the State and I am very lucky to represent it.

As a retired US Army Colonel, Veterans Day carries a special meaning for me and all who have served our country in uniform. I have countless friends and acquaintances in this category. Many of my relatives have all served. My Father is a Korean War veteran. Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Baker’s father was in the Navy in the Pacific during WWII. Some confuse Veterans Days with Memorial Day. That day we remember and honor those who died in service to their country. Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead. If you’re a veteran, I’d imagine you’re like me. Every day is Veterans Day. To all of you I say;

Thank you very much for your service.

Regardless of branch or component. Whether you have seen combat or volunteered in peacetime, active-duty or reservist, 20-year career or a drafted. These are all Americans who, for a time in their lives, invested a part of themselves in service to our nation. We honor you this weekend.

To all the many organizations who promote veteran issues I want you to know how incredibly important you are to our society. You help veterans in so many ways, from helping with benefits, or a hot meal, to fighting for veterans in the halls of government by navigating bureaucracy to writing legislation. The most important thing organizations like the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (and their auxiliaries) do is remind ordinary Americans of something larger than themselves. They help our country turn outwards and upwards and take pause from our busy lives focused on self to be reminded; to be grateful, to be proud of all the countless millions of Americans who put service to their country above all else. We don’t don the uniform of a tribe, or a sect, or of a particular religion. We don’t fight for our family or the local region of place we live in. The calling answered by Americans past and present has no equal in the world. We took an oath to protect an idea bigger than anything anyone has ever been called to put-on a uniform for in the history of the human species.

On the West steps of our Capitol the words of President Lincoln can be found behind his statute. He said;

“…our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”

American veterans, from Valley Forge to Gettysburg to Kandahar, saw a “nation so conceived” as something bigger than themselves and answered the call to protect that idea. I have seen a big part of this world and I can tell you there is only one place on this Earth you can find people who think this way; who give of themselves this way, and that’s right here in the United States. I hope we all take a moment this weekend and quietly reflect how lucky we all are to be surrounded by fellow countryman of this selfless stature. We are truly blessed. It’s why the US has “long endured.” I urge you to take a moment and thank one of the 22 million veterans there are in the United States this weekend.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov or call us at (402) 471-2628.