A Veterans Day reflection
Wherever I am, I’m always noticing the motion of the world around me. Today, I got a glimpse into a passing moment with a retired service member.
Jim worked as a greeter at the Walmart in town. On Veterans Day, a customer handed him a coffee and patted his shoulder, the man said,
“I noticed it says ‘20 years of military service’ on your badge. Thank you for your service.”
Jim was slow to respond. The man paused, then added,
“Man, that’s a long time to serve… I guess you loved it?”
Jim didn’t smile. Just a grunting “Huh?” He looked at his worn name tag, then at the sliding doors, and said,
“I loved it like I love a toothache.”
This morning, I’m still figuring out that moment. What it really held and what it meant for the veterans and service members of today. I can’t stop thinking about that line, it holds decades of sacrifice and survival. Yet, Jim is still here working a greeter job, decades after retirement, and his body and mind have carried the cost of service.
About a third of military retirees, even after 20 years service and full benefits, take civilian jobs because retirement pay isn’t enough to cover the life they want, or because the transition to civilian work is complicated with uneven opportunities and gaps in healthcare.
Early lessons on recruitment.
When I was 17 or 18, I worked at a local feed store. We sold feed, hay, and heavy farm supplies. Occasionally, military recruiters would come in and start talking to the employees loading feed bags or driving forklifts. They’d hand out pamphlets and quietly ask if anyone had thought about serving. Eventully, someone would come out and tell them that this wasn’t the right place for recruiting and they needed to leave.
It happened more than once, or twice, and revealed to me, recruiters were targeting young people in minimum-wage or farm jobs, often from lower-income families. Many were drawn in with promises of education, housing, or a steady paycheck. According to DoD data, almost half of new enlisted accessions are drawn from neighborhoods with median household incomes in the lower.
A recruiter in a local Facebook group posted,
“Come get these education benefits… College is dimb expensive now a days”
The comments were flooded with people pointing out that Illinois already provides tuition support and education resources for residents. Some people supporting the benefits of joining the military, others advising any other option.
This distinction matters: if someone joins to build skills, career pathways, or professional development, that’s one thing. If someone is being funneled by poverty and hunger into a war system because there is no other choice, that’s exploitation.
Programs like the Illinois National Guard Grant and Illinois Veteran Grant offer tuition support, but they do not change the fact that the choice to serve often arises from constrained circumstances. Women, who were officially allowed to serve decades ago, also face targeted recruitment pressures, though historically they were excluded from much of the formal military pathway.
War has changed but the human cost hasn’t
War itself has changed. Those pushing the buttons today used to ride out on horses in the chaos of it all. Now, they can launch operations from screens, oceans away from the lives they affect. Technology has evolved, but the human cost hasn’t. Those on the ground, drawn in by limited opportunity, still carry the same risks and trauma as the distance between decision-makers and reality continues to grow (Costs of War Project, Brown University, 2024).
Many veterans come home carrying a second burden of shame. They served to protect, to stay alive, but society may not support the wars they fought. Meanwhile, most of us sleep safely in heated homes with running water, food, and shelter. People in conflict zones from Palestine and Sudan to Yemen, or Somalia, endure the fallout of policies we sustain. We cannot, in good conscience, support war while ignoring these far reaching human consequences.
Gratitude grounded in truth
Today, I’m grateful for the people who’ve carried the weight of service, those who returned, those who didn’t, and those still finding their footing.
Gratitude means more than saying thank you and giving a free lunch at Applebee’s. It means building a world that doesn’t forget the humans behind the war.
For me, gratitude means a world that doesn’t need humans to risk their lives for the comforts most of us take for granted. I’m grateful for the veterans in our communities who show up , not just for the government, but for neighbors, for the youth, and for our community. To those who speak honestly about the cost of service, challenge broken systems, and work toward change. You are my heroes.
Caring for veterans is more than parades and rows of flags. It means healthcare that heals, homes that hold, and a society that stops treating military service as the default path for the poor. It means valuing people as people, not replaceable instruments of government intervention.
Local connection and action
In Illinois, veterans are active in community service, local advocacy, and protest with their walkers and all. There are programs like the Champaign County Veterans Assistance Commission that help connect veterans to healthcare, housing, and benefits. Organizations like Central Illinois Veterans Outreach provide peer support and professional counseling.
You can volunteer, donate, or participate in local events to help make sure veterans don’t navigate these systems alone.
If we truly want to honor military service, we have to stop creating conditions that demand it. For me, gratitude for veterans means no one else is sent to risk everything for the sake of government intervention and war.
I’ll add data information and citations in the next update. For now, links to the most up-to-date resources are most important.
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