 Aloha, and welcome to Figments, the Power of Imagination special Veterans Day show. Because it is Veterans Day as I record this, I realize that when you watch it, it won't be Veterans Day, but that's okay, you can celebrate anyway, and that is the theme of this show that we're going to reimagine Veterans Day as a celebration and not a day of sorrow because we're commemorating the service of all of our U.S. veterans. It's thank you for your service day because we hear that a lot, we appreciate it, but sometimes it seems to be a day or a time of pity, pitying us for our service, and we don't want that. Now when I say we, I'm speaking for the majority of veterans I know. Now, I might not get it right, they can feel free to drop you a note or make a comment on the YouTube video if they think I've got it wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm speaking for the majority of veterans when I give my views today. I can't speak for all of them, but I'll do my best, and we don't want your pity. We want your respect. We appreciate your words of thanks, but not your pity. So Veterans Day is a family matter for me. As you can see in the montage, wonderful word that I have here are family members who served in the military. In the upper left is my brother, Maug Gary, meeting his twin daughters for the first time after he returned from service in Vietnam. Then, of course, it would be who, me. And that's me as an F-16 pilot at Aviano during Operation Allied Force, Kosovo. Then we've got my younger brother, Ray, who served in the Air Force as a public affairs specialist. He's dressed up in World War II garb. That's a pretty cool picture, Ray. And then my brother, Bill, who retired as a chief master sergeant. He was a Russian linguist primarily in the Air Force, and he's doing some translating there for sent com commander General Abizade. On the lower right, my son, Thomas, and his wife, Jenny, both having served. Thomas now retired and AWACS air battle manager, among other things. And Jenny still serves in the Air Force Reserve as a senior NCO. In the middle is the other fighter pilot. The family is a test pilot, so I'm not sure that counts. My son-in-law, Sean, and then, of course, my daughter, Yat-Ting, who you met in the last episode of Figments on Reality. So it's family affair, and that doesn't even show pictures of my father, who served in the Navy at the end of and just after World War II. And my grandfather, who was a Marine in World War I. I'm looking for pictures of them. I hope my siblings will help me get some of those. So it's a family matter. And I don't know if proud's the right word. I'm honored to be considered a veteran. And that's why Veterans Day is a celebration for me. What is Veterans Day? It's kind of confused sometimes. It is not Memorial Day. Memorial Day at the end of May recognizes, celebrates, and to some degree, mourns the loss of those of given, as Abraham Lincoln said, the last full measure for their country. And that's a different kind of a holiday. More solemn, as I said, I think this should be a celebration. Everybody gets the day off, not just veterans. We're cool with that, I think, as long as we know why we're getting the day off and remember to celebrate the service of American veterans. Now, the origins come from Armistice Day, started in 1919. It was not yet on active duty, by the way. And it commemorated the signing of the Armistice at the end of World War II on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. In 1954, it formally became Veterans Day. And that, of course, is what it is today. And it was seen as a celebration of all veterans, not just for World War I. So you might be wondering about the apostrophe. It's Veterans Day without an apostrophe. I checked. And thankfully, our government and the internet made sure that we know that. And the Department of Veterans Affairs decrees that it's the collective veterans, not the possessive veterans. And thank heavens we have the government to help us with that, or I could have committed a crime against grammar. And we wouldn't want that, would we? So that's the history of Veterans Day every November 11th, unless it falls on a weekend. And then we move it the way we move holidays here in the US. The next point I'd like to make, as you can see on this graphic, is that veterans are, in fact, special. Because there aren't that many as a percentage. 19 million may sound like a lot, but it's less than 6% of the general population. And when you look at who can be a veteran, frankly, we're elite. I mean that. We're elite. Perhaps 75% of American youth can't even qualify for military service. So those who do qualify and then choose to serve are kind of elite. Why can't others qualify? Frankly, it's a matter of physical fitness, a matter of educational fitness. They don't have the requisite high school diploma or GED. And sometimes intellectual fitness, because in sad testimony to our current education system, many who do have the requisite diploma or its equivalent don't pass the entry tests. So we're elite because we qualified. And the thing that makes us most elite is that since 1973, when the draft conscription wasn't abolished in the United States, we are all volunteers. We choose to be here. And that's why we ought not be pitting. We chose the path of serving our country. Many chose it for just that reason, out of a sense of obligation to serve. Others chose it to look for an education or benefits. And some chose it perhaps to get away from whatever they had to get away from. Regardless of their motivations, they are all volunteers and should be recognized in that. And I think that that is really the most important criteria we should examine when we look at our veterans. Veterans do make special sacrifices. And while I want to celebrate, I don't want to overlook the fact that they do make special sacrifices. And that should be part of the appreciation. Some of our veterans are still recovering from wounds or the stress of combat or simply the stress of serving and are troubled. Their health and their survival or risk in terms of survival, the veteran suicide rate is 50% higher than the general population in the United States. That's a tragedy. I know many are working to address, but that work isn't done yet. And it's a sad reality. But I still think we're blessed to be veterans. Veterans give up a great deal. And one of the biggest things they give up is time with their family, time at home, Christmas is, name your holiday, just being around. And that's a sacrifice. I'll caveat that bit of sacrifice with the words from my daughter, Yateng. Again, I looked her for leadership often. She, one time when I was apologizing for all the things that I'd missed during the course of her growing up because of my military service, she said, Dad, you gave me more than time. You gave me an example. I hope it was a good example. But yeah, you give something by serving. You give something to your family, but you also give up a lot. Another thing that they give up is having their service diminished by counterfeit veterans. And that's a sad reality of the modern world. There are too many of them out there. I'll tell you how to tell a counterfeit veteran. The first indication is they are looking for pity or something like it. Probably not really a veteran because the veteran's mostly no better. So we're not to be pity. And on the next slide, I have the reasons why I don't think we should be pity. And I'll go back to what Yateng shared in our leadership interview last time on Fignments. And that's what people really look for. She learned in a book about raising her toddlers is connection, purpose and mastery. And that was further amplified in a Harvard Business Review, I think, article. So it must be true. I didn't find it on the internet. I got it from my daughter. So it must be true. Connection, purpose and mastery. In the military, you get a unique connection. And I have a picture of some of the folks I connected with during my time, my 33 years in the Air Force. And up at the upper left of this picture are a bunch of miscreants I flew over the tens with in Korea. They were a lot of, they were a fun group. It was a difficult time, but fun group. Next to that is my F is my F-15 class when I checked out in the F-15 in 1981 at Luke Air Force Base. And I could tell you something about each of the five guys there with me. But those relationships, those friendships are special and they last forever. Even we don't have a lot of contact. In the next picture on the right, there I am with President Clinton. At the end of the air war over Serbia came to Aviano to talk to the troops. When I see that picture, I don't, my eyes don't go to President Clinton. They go to the troops because those are my military family, all veterans, all serving in combat. Regardless of their job and my relationship with each of them is something I treasure. On the lower right, kind of a great American story somebody I connected with after my active service, a Chinese immigrant who I commissioned as a second lieutenant. Chan, I know you're a first lieutenant now. Don't lose it. I know who he won't, who's probably serving and getting to know him was a great part of my life. In the center at the bottom, I'm somewhere in Iraq early in the invasion in 2003 with a bunch of my pals doing the work we were sent out to do. And in the lower left, a great fighter pilot moment, my last operational sortie in the F-16 having been hosed down by a fire truck, shaking the hand of somebody I flew with. Now those relationships that come rotary are extraordinary. And they're unlike anything else because I've done other things. I've built great friendships outside of the military but it's not the same. One of the reasons it's not the same is you don't have the purpose that I'll talk about in a minute. But another is the friendship camaraderie, the silly irreverence of being in the military that you experience in the military and nowhere else. Some of it is very soft morgue. Maybe some of the best of it is soft morgue but it's unique. And it's a wonderful part of the connection that you get by serving. There's another connection that only those who've served in active combat can appreciate. And I don't care if you won Super Bowl. Well, I do if you're the Green Bay Packers and how about getting another one. I don't care what you've done. Win a Super Bowl, win a World Series, succeed in business. If you've served in combat and have the opportunity as we do as fighter pilots to sip a mission whiskey. I don't even like whiskey to sip a mission whiskey at the end of a challenging combat story with the people who you went into the jaws of death with and fortunately escaped. There's nothing like that. I've got goose bumps, chicken skin, we say here and why. Just remembering, there is nothing like it and I wouldn't trade it for the world. And all of you haven't done that. Sorry, dudes and dudettes, you'll never know unless you do. That's a connection. That is unequivocal. I believe in the human experience. And then you have the purpose. If people need a purpose, they often find it in the military. I had no, well, I have purposes but they're not worth talking about today. But until I joined the Air Force and found a purpose, a mission and ascribed to it and bought into it, having sworn an oath to that mission that was wandering through life. And the military member, regardless of their specialty, regardless of what part of the mission they do, find that higher calling. And it's a beautiful thing. Now they don't all, we have people who fail to find the calling and we know what to do with them. But generally military service gives you a sense of purpose that's important and essential because Yauting would say to the human experience and fulfillment. And then finally mastery. I never mastered anything until I got into the military and learned to fly. I'm not sure I ever fully mastered that but you get mastery through the discipline in the military. And in this case, and I often said to folks who work for me and with me, I don't view discipline as a dark owner's force. It's the glue that holds you together as you try to achieve a mission often in dangerous circumstances. And you get that discipline but you also get training and education. You get taught how to do what we ask you to do and you get to master it. And furthermore, you get in addition to connection purpose and mastery may be part of it. You get some unique experiences. And when I see my old friends, I'm gonna give a shout out to my buddy Quaker who I flew F-15s with in a couple of locations. A great fighter pilot, maybe the second greatest fighter pilot in the world. Now, we shared some of those experiences and the good ones and the bad ones are of equal value. The tough times are just as important as the good times. And there are plenty of each. And finally, and what I think about most often when I think about Veterans Day is the special appreciation of veteran hands for our freedom and the blessings attendant to that freedom, not just because we serve to defend it but because generally we've been a lot of other places. Some wonderful, not so wonderful. And we have a basis for comparison and we truly know how lucky we are as Americans and especially as Americans who have the opportunity to try to make it so. And it is a wonderful thing. A wonderful thing, an important thing. And so let's celebrate the beauty of being a veteran and celebrate that we have 19 million people who raised their right hand and sworn oath to defend the constitution of the United States, not some politician or ruler or flag lover flag, but that's not what we defend. It's the constitution of the United States and the rights and privileges attendant to that. So I'm thankful for having had the chance to do that. I worry a bit about the purpose right now and the part of purpose for our Afghan veterans. And I've talked about Afghanistan before, but they may be wondering due to the abrupt withdrawal and apparent failure of our efforts there, was it worth it? Did we have a purpose? And I'd like to say to all of you, including Gutting and Thomas and Sean, the legacy of an introduction to human rights into Afghanistan is yours. It doesn't belong to politicians or generals or admirals. And it will endure. I don't know what the future is of Afghanistan, but your purpose was just and appropriate and you should remember that and not focus on the chaos of recent months. So all right, that's how I reimagine Veterans Day. It's a celebration. You know, I'll still go to my favorite to home and proven store and take the discount. Thank you very much. And I didn't go to McDonald's and get my free sandwich today. I like that. And I appreciate your thanks when those of you who haven't served thank me for my service. I do think a lot about that. Every Veterans Day I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma about how to react, respond to that. I've come up with an answer thanks to friends. And I would like to say that one of the great things, maybe the only great thing about the internet is it's allowed me to connect with veterans who've become friends. We have shared experiences in different places, sort of like brothers of another mother or something like that. And I enjoy getting to know them but through the internet, through a Facebook post, somebody gave me the right answer and I'll share that at the very end. For those of you, back to what I was trying to say, for those of you who want to thank a veteran, like I said, we appreciate it, but I'd rather be thanked in deeds than words. So try this. Try saying, I thank you for my service by blank. And then fill in the blank. Here are some things you could fill in the blank with. I thank you for my service by volunteering to make my community better. I thank you for your service, rather, by exercising the right to vote that you have guaranteed me. I thank you for your service by contributing to organizations that help wounded and troubled veterans. I'd love to hear that because it's more important that you make the most of the opportunities we've insured for you and make our country better, ideally more united and less fractious. What about my personal answer? I came up with it, I stole it, as I said. And I tried it out today, it worked really well, by the way. When somebody thanks me for my service in the future, I will reply, it was worth it because it was worth it. It was worth it personally and it was worth it for this country and for the world. So that's what I have to say. My service was well worth the time and effort it took. And I'm very glad I did it. And I'm celebrating that today, Veterans Day 2021. So you veterans, I thank you for your service as well and for all of you that I've known for serving with me, teaching me, having fun with me, building relationships and trying to make the world a better place. Please tune in next week for Figments on Reality, 10 o'clock Hawaii Standard Time. Sorry for those of you who are subjected to daylight saving time. And of course available on YouTube, Vimeo and other platforms later. I'll talk about China, Taiwan and the US a little bit more because there's a lot to say that could always be preempted by something big happening that takes my attention away from China, Taiwan and the US. And finally, I'd like to close by thanking ThinkDecawai who make both Figments, the power of imagination and Figments on Reality possible, a great nonprofit corporation that enables many citizen journalists to also share their opinions and the effort to inform and improve our world. So happy Veterans Day, folks. It was worth it. Aloha.