Veterans and current members of the U.S. Armed Forces put everything on the line for their country and sacrifice everything from time with their families to their lives.
Here are five quotes from veterans on service and sacrifice.
• "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."
– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president and five-star general.
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• "The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
– John F. Kennedy, 35th president and World War II veteran, in a 1962 radio address
• "It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don't regret it. My regrets are for the people I couldn't save: Marines, soldiers, buddies. I'm not naive, and I don't romanticize war. The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. But I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job."
– Chris Kyle, lethal sniper for the United States Navy and subject of film "American Sniper,"
Texas Monthly
• "Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen volunteer to protect and defend this country and all its citizens, and do so with honor, integrity and excellence. Our nation continually asks them to do more and more, with less and less."
– Allen West, veteran and former congressman, wrote for
Human Events
• "America's fighting men and women sacrifice much to ensure that our great nation stays free. We owe a debt of gratitude to the soldiers that have paid the ultimate price for this cause, as well as for those who are blessed enough to return from the battlefield unscathed."
– Allen Boyd, veteran and former congressman
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