This is Viewpoints for Friday, November 10, 2017

Honoring our vets

Today, we honor our veterans and their families for their sacrifices and unwavering dedication to our country. Our troops who wear the uniform represent the best, and I mean the very best, our country has to offer. It is because of their service that we enjoy the freedom that comes with being an American.

I’m proud of the military tradition of our state. I’m also proud to serve those in uniform as Georgia’s junior senator in the United States Senate. I take that responsibility very seriously. We have a solemn charge to provide our veterans with the utmost respect and best care our country has to offer.

Unfortunately, for years the federal government failed to keep that promise. It is an open secret that the total lack of accountability at the VA jeopardized the ability of veterans to get timely and quality care. President Trump called this out and we have seen his administration work with Congress to tackle this head-on. This Veterans Day, I’m proud to say we are finally seeing a breakthrough.

Rules barring the VA from firing non-performing employees have been removed by Congress, and the new head of the VA has taken action to restore accountability. To date, 500 bureaucrats have been let go for poor performance. That’s great news for restoring trust between our veterans and the VA. We’ve also renewed the CHOICE program allowing veterans to seek out private care if they are unable to get it at the VA.

I’m proud to say that Georgia’s senior senator — my friend, Johnny Isakson — deserves much of the credit for his work leading the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. In a time of dysfunction and gridlock, these are real bipartisan accomplishments to help our veterans. I can think of no better message to those veterans and their families this Veterans Day.

A great month

November is a great month. We observe Veterans Day on Nov. 11 and Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday. To be a veteran on Veterans Day is to live for awhile with memories that never fade. When my veteran was a little boy in Alabama, he saw a man in uniform. He said when he grew up he wanted to wear a uniform. At the age of 18, he joined the Air Force and served two terms in Germany; one in Vietnam, on in Missouri and two at Robins Air Force Base. He served his country with pride and dignity. I lost my veteran four years ago after 59 years of love and marriage.

Thank a veteran

This week we celebrate Veterans Day. For many Americans, it’s just another day of the week as they go about their business. Veterans Day means a day off from work or school. However, I ask everyone to take a moment and reflect on Veterans Day and what it means.

The most important responsibility of any government is security of the people. At the national level, that responsibility is carried out by military service men and women who have answered a higher calling. Our service members have all volunteered to give of themselves so that the rest of us may live free, in peace and with a sense of security. Whether engaged in combat or not, every service member stands ready to fight and, if need be, to die so that millions back home won’t have to. There is nothing more honorable than giving one’s life for another, and that is what a small percentage of our fellow Americans are prepared to do. Every service member knows the realities, the dangers and the hazards of their chosen profession. One definition of a veteran is someone who is willing to give everything — up to and including their life — to defend the country. If that isn’t the definition of a hero, I don’t know what is.

If you’ve never seen an artillery round explode, never felt the concussion of an exploding bomb, never seen the damage a machine gun does to human flesh, never known the fear of walking into a mine field, or never heard the “zing” from a round passing inches over your head, it’s almost impossible to understand the courage required of a soldier to charge into battle fully knowing that he will be killed. I can’t explain it; few can. Yet, charge they do, and only by God’s grace they survive. Bullets are flying, the ground gets chewed, explosions all around, screaming, yelling, blood, guts, and brains. Something pushes them on. What is it? I don’t know. I call them heroes.

So, on Veterans Day, heck on any day, thank a veteran. Thank them for all they’ve done; thank them for being the line of defense between freedom and chaos; thank them for upholding the values that our nation stands for. And thank them for being ready to pay the ultimate price.

Remember Pat Tillman

Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, Pat Tillman decided to join the military and forgo an NFL career, he died for his country. Remember him and all veterans and boycott the NFL this Sunday.

Seagulls?

Now that Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama have laid waste to the Democratic National Committee, their minions have been reduced to a helpless flock of wayward seagulls.

They flit and squawk aimlessly about making a mess of things and leaving it for others to clean up. They have no original thoughts to rely on as everything is spoon-fed to them by their masters of deceit, i.e: control freaks, and the fake news manure spreaders. Now they have their collective tail feathers in a wad because Donald Trump is stuck in their craw and they are gagging on a large dose of reality.

They say Trump won by default and he is not their president. Fact of the matter is, Trump had seen John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 get steamrolled by BHO and his nasty Chicago-type of street fighting politics. DJT was a pretty savvy brawler himself and knew the Clinton Machine was out for blood, especially after getting out-nastied in’08. The one thing The machine couldn’t deal with is getting beat by a non-politician using similar tactics. Lady Hillary lost the golden throne to Mr. Filthy McNasty and we are all better off because of it.

This is the most clear-cut case of divine intervention in our history. If the election of 2016 had gone like every poll had predicted, Jimmy Carter would be the third worst president ever.

This story was originally published November 9, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, November 10, 2017."