My Grandfather was in the Navy for the Korean War. On his final Memorial Day he opened to me and my dad about it.

He said he had to operate a gate on a landing craft while under fire (we were given no details of the battle or location), and every time he pulled the lever and dropped the gate, he got to watch some of his buddies get mowed down.

He said, "It felt like I was killing all my buddies." Exact words.

That was the only time in his life he told that story out loud, far as my dad and I know. It was a heck of a "war is Hell" moment.

I think my Grandpa died wondering whether his buddies' death really helped stop communism, or whether they died getting mixed up in some nonsense on the other side of the world that we didn't have any business in. I wonder too - I haven't done too much diving into the ins and outs of the Korean War.

That was 2013 when he told me that. Thank God he doesn't have to see what America's going through now, but if he was here I know he'd be telling us to press in harder.

We absolutely need to learn that generation's strength, bravery, resiliency, determination, discipline, character and honor. But we need to question our leaders more than they did. And right now, more than ever, we need a military that serves the American people.

....Wow. Thanks for the opportunity to write that, fren. Didn't know I needed to.