My annual Veterans Day message and a "sales pitch" for our fighting men and women. 

Greetings Family & Friends!

For five years I have written these annual messages on Memorial Day and Veterans Day as a way to raise awareness of issues that are near and dear to me. Two sections to this year's message... First the sales pitch and finally my annual message.

The Sales Pitch

Our fighting men and women are doing more and under greater demands than almost any time in the past. These folks deserve and indeed truly need our help and support. You don't have to support the war and the battles being fought to support these brave people. With the holidays approaching, any support offered by those of us back home would be greatly appreciated by service members.

As such, I am making a personal plea... If you read my messages and enjoy them, I am asking for you to show your support for my time and effort by donating to a worthy cause. Any amount would be welcomed. I have identified a few organizations and causes that I have given to and support that do great things for those in uniform. I urge everyone who receives this message to take the time and spend a few dollars to help these organizations and thus our soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen.

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund - An organization dedicated to helping the families of those men & women who have made the ultimate sacrifice. http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/foundation_heroesfund.html

Fallen Patriot Fund - Founded by Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, this organization was established to help families of U.S. military personnel who were killed or seriously injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom. http://www.fallenpatriotfund.org/

Veterans of Foreign Wars Operation Uplink - Ask anyone (including myself) who has been deployed overseas how much a phone call home means and you will know what a great program this is. Donations are used to buy calling cards for military members so they can do something that means more to them than just about anything - call home! http://www.operationuplink.org/

Armed Forces Relief Trust - Virtually anyone who has served is familiar with their particular branch of service's relief society. They do great things for those serving and I cannot say enough about the organization. Whether it is payment for a soldier's airfare to fly home for his father's funeral, a special reading program for a sailor's daughter, special medical attention for a pilot's expectant spouse, or college tuition for a soldier's child, they are there for service members. http://www.afrtrust.org/

Pentagon Memorial Fund - 184 military members and DOD employees lost their lives at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. A memorial is planned for the grounds of the Pentagon but it needs your support. The memorial will instill the ideas that patriotism is a moral duty, that freedom comes at a price, and that the victims of this attack have paid the ultimate price. http://www.pentagonmemorial.net

The Message

Veterans Day 2004, as last year, finds our country at war. Forces in this world seek our destruction by any means necessary. Do not be fooled into complacency - this threat is real. Our armed forces find themselves fighting this war both at home and abroad, protecting our very way of life.

The war hit pretty close to home recently. Lance Corporal Andrew Riedel was a young Marine, only 19 years old; a local son, he actually went to the same high school I did. He was killed in Iraq on October 30 th when a bomb blew up beside his convoy near Fallujah in Iraq .

This past Monday, November 8 th , 2004, Andrew was laid to rest in a cemetery not far from here. Over 700 people attended the services, many of which did not even know him.

700 people, coming together to honor a young man who had made the ultimate sacrifice for his country....for us.

700 heads, bowed in acknowledgement of the sacrifice this young man and countless others before him have made.

700 hearts, aching for his family, unable to imagine their pain and grief.

1,400 hands, clasped in prayer for him, his family, and our country.

1,400 eyes shut, envisioning this Marine taking his place in the kingdom of Our Father .

Thousands of tears shed as Russ Montanio, Riedel's stepbrother and a Jefferson County Sheriff spoke of his brother.

"I don't want people to forget that you didn't have to go. You wanted to. You once said that the events of 9/11 had a profound effect on you. You wanted to protect your friends, your family . . . your country," he said. He remembered that Riedel had mentioned that he might want to work as a police officer one day. Then Montanio moved toward the casket.

"Little brother, you always said you wanted to be a deputy," he said, crying. "Since you never received a badge yourself, you can have mine." Montanio then took off his badge and pinned it to the flag draped over the casket, leaving his brother with 51 stars.

Andrew Riedel's sister Dannette recalled how as kids she would walk her little brother to the park thinking she had to protect him. When he joined the Marines, he became the protector - not only of her, but of all of us.

"I could never wish for a more thoughtful or loving friend, brother or man to be a role model for my family," she said. Speaking of her own sons, she said, "I would be proud to have my boys follow in his footsteps, though they are pretty big feet."

It struck me that here is this family who has lost a son and a brother and their words were not so much about their loss, but about the man he had become, about his sacrifice and about his and their belief that what he was doing was right and just. He had become what all members of the armed forces today and in the past are and were - protectors. The price he and his family paid was beyond measure and yet there were no regrets, no recriminations.

Lance Corporal Andrew Riedel exemplified the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen that have fought for this great country in the past and are still fighting today. Veterans have served this nation in all capacities - from desk clerks, to mechanics, to the ground pounding soldiers. These men and women have served with honor, courage and commitment back here in the states to places overseas like Tora Bora, Fallujah, Normandy, Anzio, Guadalcanal, Khe Sanh, Inchon and many other God-forsaken hell holes across the globe.

Each has made their own sacrifices for God and country. They believe in this country and they believe in the cause. I, as they do, firmly believe that the United States of America is a beacon for all others - where we lead, others follow because the liberties and freedom we have and offer are cherished by all beings and are a God given right.

Our service men and women are the finest examples of what this great nation stands for and all are worthy of the highest praise and greatest honors. Please take time today to remember the veterans of this great nation and what they have given to all of us - our very freedom and freedom to millions of others.

And finally, as the service Monday drew to a close, the family's pastor, Lonnie Trujillo, spoke about Riedel's service, in life and in faith. Trujillo paused to collect himself and quoted Will Rogers, "We can't all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."

And with that, the audience of weeping family and loved ones, of dearest friends and caring strangers, stood and applauded.

Semper Fi, Marine! We will never forget.

God bless you and God bless America .