Reflecting
Veterans Day is full of Reflection. At least during my last 20 years of service it was a day of contemplation and tribute. But this Veterans Day, in a sense is nostalgically new.
Although it has been a year, it is strange to recognize our time-honored Heroes by not wearing a uniform myself.
Understanding
This Veterans Day, like anyday, we must try to better understand the diversity of our Armed Forces -- it is full of color, creeds and culture and it is as muti-modal as the Cyberspace World that we thrive in. And this year, we are on the cusp of Don't ask, don't tell being repealed. Will it happen? I believe we should support our Military Leaders and respect the rule of law as it is passed in Congress.
Negotiating
It is important that we listen to our judicious soldiers: From the Frontline General to the deck seaman or buck private, their informed inputs from how we strategize the war to the most fundamental aspects of quality of life will shape our Military and our Country here and now.
The inputs from those who serve must be threaded with the views from the decision makers on the Hill and molded in with the thoughts and minds of those who we serve.
Innovating
As bureaucratic as any large government organization can be, we still have the "old-school" dinosaurs that make it very hard to get things done. Bottom line is not what they strive for sometimes; prestige and perception my trump productivity. Thankfully, the military today are filled with young people who grew up their entire life with the internet and who embraced MySpace before Facebook became the 10th continent. And there are enough young, revolutionary minds within the senior and mid-grade ranks who recognize the power and reach of social media to communicate to their traditional top down organizations and to the American people, too. They are once again recreating the military -- doing something some of the stiff senior ranks are not known to do -- knocking down barriers and creating transparency so that the common people will be deeply empowered.
Navigating
As we look forward, we must remember their sacrifices as well as the lessons that their notable acts of humanity afforded. What we do now with the ensuing war against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and those who want to do harm against the country that I call home will determine how joyous or remorseful we commemorate Veterans Day in years to come.
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