Thanks for the answers!
It's something I've sort of subconsciously questioned for a while.
I never served so it's hard for me to really judge or properly consider it. But I tend to think of my grandfather who is way past 90 and served in WWII at 16 y/o after escaping the Holocaust in Germany, etc. etc.
He's still alive, but he had a hard life. Having to serve especially after such a traumatic childhood certainly took a toll, and it's much more noticeable now than when I knew him as a younger grandfather.
So I wonder.. he's not dead so I don't want to memorialize him that way. But do I want to memorialize what he was before, and the fact that the world forced him to take that path?
I feel that other service members (not necessarily most, even) have similar stories. So when I think about even the living vets, I wonder if we should recognize them beyond just Veteran's day, because to me Veteran's day tends to be more of a "thanks for your service, let's have a bbq and pool party".
Hope that makes sense.
