You know, a lot of physicians and clients I work with daily are veterans that have sacrificed more than I could ever know for our great country. I want to take a moment and say thank you to my fellow veterans …Thank you for your service. Today I want to share with you something that I recently stumbled upon. It comes from an anonymous source, but I think you will appreciate it all the same.
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Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.
Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, A piece of shrapnel in the leg or perhaps another sort of inner steel: The soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet?
- He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
- He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
- She or he is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Danang.
- He is the POW who went away one person and came back another or didn’t come back AT ALL.
- He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.
- He is the parade riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
- He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
- He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor remains unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.
- He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket, aggravatingly slow, who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
- He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
- He is a Soldier, Marine, Sailor or Airman, and also a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember each time you see someone who has served our country to just lean over, look them in the eye and say thank you.
That’s all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, “THANK YOU”.
God Bless Our Veterans!
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Every man and woman who has defended and is defending us deserves our recognition. I’m sure you know at least one person who has served or is serving this great nation. A simple, “Thank you!” will mean more to them than you could ever know
….by the way, thanks Dad, you’re my hero.
Stay safe,
Bob Eskridge, President
Eskridge & Associates
Captain, United States Air Force, 1983-1992
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Bob Eskridge (bob@eskridgeassociates.com) is the President of Eskridge & Associates (www.eskridgeassociates.com) which specializes in the placement of physicians in both locum tenens and direct hire placement opportunities nationwide. Bob is one of a handful that has five industry certifications. He is a Certified Personnel Consultant (CPC), Certified Temporary Staffing Specialist (CTS), a Certified Physician Recruiter (PRC) and a Certified Employee Retention Specialist (CERS) through the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS). He is also a Certified Staffing Professional (CSP) through the American Staffing Association. he has recently published his first book: “So you Always wanted to be a Physician Recruiter”(http://tinyurl.com/EANewBook).
Bob Eskridge is also President of Eskridge Worldwide Travel (www.eskridgetravel.com) providing travel services for physicians as well as Eskridge Consulting (www.eskridgeconsulting.com), a training company providing healthcare and related, professional development training as well as helping others to realize their childhood dreams of becoming physician recruiters