sacrifice themselves on the basic principle that we should live free. while the cause is the same everyone has a different reason for serving. maybe they are following in their father s footsteps or felt a calling after the terrorists tore down the twin towers. for me it was a patriotic parade or a series of them in a small town. motherly day and fourth of july parades in a tiny town in southern minnesota where my parents grew up. the whole town lined up on the tree sign side of the main street waiting for the veterans to walk by and when they came older vets and younger vets, crowd clapped and saluted. the reverence that town had for the veterans made me say, wow, those men really did something special. something bigger than this town. something bigger than themselves. these men were willing to put on a uniform and face danger for me, a kid they never met. it was just a handful of veterans, from one town. but every town in america gave men like that. out of sheer patriotism
At the university of texas and decided he was going to play college football without ever playing a down in his life. but nothing could stop him. he even earned a spot on the seattle seahawks without being drafted and most recently he started a nonprofit joining retired professional athletes and veterans to learn from one another. aptly named mvp, or merging vets and players. he also wrote and starred in a feature film by the same name. and then there is aaron hill. we went to eod school together. after a successful career as a navy chef, he wanted to be closer to the front lines and joined the army to take bombs apart. then he was severely injured in afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated in his presence. but his injuries haven t slowed him down. he s about to run 135 miles across death valley. it s the hardest foot race in