I will not forget you

Dear Soldier,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter. I cannot express, adequately, what a complete misfortune it is to hear of your struggles on your home turf. Here you are, fresh from fighting for MY safety, finally home...and unemployed. When did Americans become so ungrateful for what you do that we cannot even offer you a job after your time of service is at an end? Does your skill, expertise, and intense training in the military mean nothing anymore? My heart aches when I imagine how this must make you feel. You literally signed your life over to a cause, a very noble cause, to defend a country you believed in. You left your friends and loved ones, parents, brothers, wives, children, to endure intense training. You spent time overseas in battle more horrific than most people want to believe. Why? So that us here at home can LIVE.

I want to express my heartfelt and deepest appreciation for your service. Because of you, I am able to live a quite peaceful and safe life at home with my family. Because of you, I do not live in constant fear of walking out my door. Because of you, we can live. You have laid your life on the line time and time again. My, what love that is! To lay one's life down for a stranger! I am forever and deeply grateful.

And yet, after all of that, your time comes to an end and then...nothing. You search for a civilian job, but can't find one. There is barely any value for the knowledge and expertise of your previous life. What was noble and valuable then, doesn't matter anymore. And no one seems to care. You fought for our life here, to come home to a life where you cannot provide for your family...where you are denied the basic human right of WORK.

I am so sorry.

In return, though it seems to meager, I offer you 4 things: 1) I will pray for you and for your family. 2) When I meet you or any veteran I will make sure we do not part ways without you feeling every ounce of my gratitude for your service. I will also express gratitude to the current military when I see them. 3) I will teach my children about the REAL LIFE super-heroes that are our military. 4) I will teach my children the pledge of allegiance (never mind that some 90% of illegal immigrants, who are seeking immigration, haven't even bothered to learn it themselves- they want to join our country, they use our colleges, benefit from our taxes, but don't know the pledge? This is a great misfortune for our country). I will teach them to honor and respect those men and woman who courageously and unselfishly laid their lives on the line, and who many lost their lives, so that we can have a comfortable life here.

Has everyone forgotten that there is still a war? That people's husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, are losing their lives EVERY DAY still so that we can have our comfortable life here?

I have not forgotten. From the very bottom of my heart, I thank you for your service, your courage, your self-sacrifice. I am so proud of you.

Yours,
Jessica Ferrante
Just a US Citizen whose life you saved.