RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
With Retiree Appreciation Day Saturday at the Kendrick Club, I was asked, "Why should we appreciate retirees? What's so important about them? They just clog up the lines at the commissary and pharmacy."
That set me to thinking. I've been a retiree for 20 years, why should retirees be appreciated? After some consideration, I offer these answers.
Retirees should be appreciated because of the sacrifices they have made for our freedom. We should take time out to hear their "war stories" about what they did way back then. They have awesome tales to tell.
My own father, a World War II Lockheed P-38 "Lightning" pilot in North Africa and Italy, shared his stories with me. My father and his compatriots lived in tents in the desert and farmers' fields, ate powdered eggs, and used granulated sugar that refused to dissolve in their coffee. They flew at high altitudes with just a single heater hose to warm the cockpit as frigid air blew in around the .50-caliber machine guns in the nose.
They watched their buddies roll up in balls of flame, or simply disappear into a cloud, never to be seen again. With some variations, stories like this were repeated in Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf Wars.
Retirees should be appreciated because they led the way and are a fount of knowledge and experience upon which current leaders may draw, if they choose to do so. Bernard of Chartres is credited with the phrase, "We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants."
Retirees are the latest in a series of giants who established many of the tactics and policies used by the Armed Forces today. They stand ready to share their expertise with today's generation and it isn't all just "war stories." They have seen what's worked and what hasn't worked in the past and can help today's leaders avoid similar pitfalls.
Retirees should be appreciated because they continue to serve today as volunteers, both on and off base. You see them working at the pharmacy handing out your latest prescription. The person at the information desk at the clinic or at Brooke Army Medical Center probably was a retiree volunteer. You see volunteers shelving books at the Base Library or assisting at the base chapel.
If you have attended a burial at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery those guys in the black and white uniforms who provided three volleys of rifle fire and played "Taps" were retiree volunteers. Let's face it--in today's environment of manpower cutbacks retiree volunteers have helped ease the pain.
So, the next time you're at the commissary and you see some white-haired retirees in line in front of you, shake their hands, ask what them what did in the service, patiently listen to their responses and then let them know how much you appreciate them.