Being a veteran means you honorably serve your country in peacetime and war.It means you took time out of your life to be the protector of your fellow citizens and your freedom.Being a veteran means you soared above the clouds and moved across and beneath the oceans and you hiked anywhere across any terrain around the globe.Being a veteran means you jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.Being a veteran means you felt the cold snow across Korea and Europe. You enjoyed the steaming heat of Vietnam and South Pacific and you endured the extreme temperatures of Iraq and Afghanistan.Being a veteran means you have stepped in a small landing craft and crossed the Delaware or the English Channel and changed the course of history. ...Being a veteran means you didn’t have to decide what you wore each day because it was the same thing you wore every day.Being a veteran means you find yourself sometimes thousands of miles away from your loved ones. It is also the toughest when you say goodbye to loved ones, not knowing if you would return. And it is also being filled with overwhelming happiness and joy when you did come home.Being a veteran means finding out years later that the war isn’t over for you because you were exposed to asbestos, radiation, Agent Orange and who knows what.Being a veteran means even though there was no TV or radio you enjoyed spending time talking with your buddies about what you are going to do when you get home.When you are a veteran you still get a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye when you hear “The Star-Spangled Banner” or taps. ...Being a veteran means you know how to hurry up and wait.It means you have dreams and flashbacks, you live with mental and physical pain and disabilities. ...Being a veteran means you wonder why the girl of your dreams got married while you were gone. ...Being a veteran means you learn to make due and adapt.Fellow veterans, we are connected to a part of all veterans who came before and will still come. ...Be proud of what you have done.Let us also keep in our prayers those veterans who gave their lives protecting our freedoms, those who are POWs and missing in action. God bless all who served.Excerpt of the speech from keynote speaker Stephen Vlossak