《新皇冠体育最新版本》

I didn’t join the military because I wanted to kill people. I didn’t fight in those wars because I believed they were right. 有些人会. But I, and many others, am not one of them.

我只是一个人. A person who has seen things, done things, and been places you couldn’t imagine. I will never be the same person I was before I signed up. I am proud to have served my country, but I have also done things I am not proud of. Everyone holds so many expectations of me. They thank me for my service, when often I don’t feel I deserve gratitude. I have to be strong, a proud representative of this great country. I, 和其他许多人一样, were in debt or couldn’t find a job, so we took the job offered by the US Government. It sounded like a really good offer. They would give me a career, settle my debts, pay for my college – all for a few years of my life. I was only a teenager – I had plenty of those to give.

When I went to war, my unit was my family. 我们成了朋友, brothers and sisters; we all left our families halfway across the world and formed new ones in the wake. When I came back, I left the family that understood everything we went through together. I returned to my biological family who loved me but couldn’t possibly understand. I’d missed them so much, but I felt different – like in a way, I could no longer relate to them, 或任何. In fact, although I was home, I’d never felt so alone in my life. In some ways, I’ll only really be comfortable “over there.” At least my comrades were by my side, understood and helped me when times were hard, and relied on my strength as well. Sometimes, I wonder why I was lucky enough to come back and others weren’t. Nobody knew when the reaper was coming, but we had to be ready for him any day, without warning.

I have never killed anyone. I never even fired my weapon. Most of us never have or will. But that doesn’t mean what I’ve been through hasn’t changed me forever.

The next time you see me, or any other veteran, shake our hands and thank us. It means a lot to us. 跟我们谈谈, 做我们的朋友, and listen – we have been so tough for so long, you might find us cocky, 或骄傲, 或傲慢, 或以自我为中心. 请, be patient and understanding with us – sometimes, we don’t really fit in with everyone else, and this is just how we’ve adapted. And just like you, we are only people. We want the same things you do. 要快乐. 要想成功. 为了养家糊口. To love, and to be loved.

我叫德里克.

And I am proud to be a veteran.

Derek Miller is a 2014 graduate of Alfred University's clinical psychology program, an ARMY veteran who served in Kuwait and Iraq, and a friend of Alfred University.