I have many stories to share being a Career Marine Vietnam Widow but am choosing today to relate one of my father-in-law that is surely representative of most Veterans. My father-in-law was an Army CWO5 of 27 years when he was medically retired with terminal cancer. His wife (2nd), was a Major with 20 years as a nurse retired at the same time to take of him. The two of them had been best friends with another Army Officer for many years and had served together during Korea and Vietnam. He was the only one still in but they kept in frequent touch with him.
A few months after being home, my father-in-law received a middle of the night phone call telling him to prepare his gear for both cold and hot conditions as he was being called back in for a very important assignment. Someone be there to pick him up within minutes. He immediately started packing his gear (that he, of course, hadn't disposed of) and his wife helped him. No questions asked.
When he was in his uniform, he sat in their foyer with bags ready to go.
There was a knock at the door and when opened, there was their good friend. He had pulled one last prank on my father-in-law....it was just something they had always done all the years they knew each other. He passed a few months later.
To me, it was sheer dedication and sacrifice for my father-in-law to raise up from his sick bed to be ready because his country needed him.
R.I.P. CWO5 Robert E. Tully Sr.
Phoenix, AZ