As a young girl, my father and grandfather taught me about service.  My father served in the Army, my grandfather in the Navy.  On my mother’s side of the family - through literature, through the proper teaching of history and to be honest, my mother’s willingness to discuss her time on the Presidio at the height of the Vietnam protests, as the wife of an Officer, figures prominently in shaping my respect for the men (and women) who serve Freedom’s cause.On Veteran’s Day, or Remembrance Day as our Allies across the pond prefer, every one of us is challenged to be grateful for the service - of those strangers who fight for our freedom, for liberty, for a more civilized society - defending us from predators and terrorists, unspeakable evil across the globe.In years past, I wrote of the plight that faces Gold Star families. Friends.  The absence of a loved one, the unending gulf of despair felt by them - and their cynicism when many Americans see Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day as an occasion for a barbeque, or a blowout furniture sale. The truth, so much closer to their hearts - is a yearning for understanding.More often though, I have written about the relationship between our warriors and their beloved:The sacred trust between a warrior and his wife is unbreakable, even in the face of marital turbulence.Those quiet midnight goodbyes…before he heads out to the flight line… or before the call of the Boatswain’s pipe fades… these husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, become bound together. Those memories are sustenance for the warrior as the world explodes around him. Or as silence falls forever… Warriors deserve more than the simple things we hear about in the news… they deserve a warm memory where the lines between self and selfless are shared with his woman… Those last fervent kisses linger… and with every letter from home… he is reminded.This year… I find myself re-reading those words.  Early this morning, I quietly fixed my Gold Star pin to the Ameri...