Red, White, and True
This Veteran's Day, I'm feeling reverent. And really, really angry.
I can remember the first time I was awestruck by the concept—and harsh reality—of military service.
I was at the movies, sitting in air-conditioned comfort with a box of popcorn. The film included scenes of American soldiers fighting an urban battle in a far-off country. Suddenly, one of the soldiers saw an explosive device hiding inside the house they were patrolling. Just as quickly, he realized that it was too late: the device was about to go off. The soldier told his compatriots to run, then threw himself on the IED, saving their lives.
And losing his own.
As I sat there in the dark, the enormity of this man’s sacrifice struck me like a jolt from an electric fence. Yes, he had saved the lives of his fellow soldiers. But he had also, in some larger sense, saved the lives of everyone back home, too. He’d saved all of us.
I wish I could remember the name of that film; I think about it every Veteran’s Day. The heroic character in the movie was fictional, of course, but he might as well have been real. In the history of our country, hundreds of thousands of soldiers (and their families) have made similar, astonishing sacrifices because they believed in this concept—this incredible, improbable reality—that we call “America.” They did it then, and they do it still. Every day.
The fact is, everything I have and everything I love, I owe to United States military veterans. Physical things, like my car, my next meal, a new pair of winter boots. Abstract things, like my ability to pursue a career I enjoy, live where I want to live, and love who I want to love. Safety for my kids. A yard for my dog. That box of popcorn at the movies. The knowledge that my fellow Americans will have my back if I need them. These are things I have always taken for granted, thanks to the veterans who indisputably made it all possible.
No matter the era, no matter the enemy, there have always been men and women who were willing to die—to actually die—so that you and I and that cute little freckled kid on the playground could continue to live this charmed, democratic life.
And now here comes the tricky part. The political part. I don’t want to write it, and you don’t want to hear it. But there’s no time for dancing around the truth any longer. We Americans are, once again, facing a threat to our freedoms, but this time, it’s not a foreign threat. Just like that fictional IED in the movie, this threat is hiding inside the house. And that house is literally crumbling, as we all saw only too clearly this October—watching, helpless, while bulldozers tore down the walls at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The People’s House, along with the People’s Democracy, is literally disappearing before our eyes, controlled by autocrats who are grabbing the reins of power for themselves and their own interests. Just like autocrats have done throughout history—elsewhere. But not here, in America. Never here. And if you’re anything like me, you’re wondering what the hell to do about it.
I don’t have an easy answer. But I do know this: I’ll be damned if all those soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice for this country only to have that country brought down by people who would never have the courage or willingness to do the same.
We cannot allow that to happen. Whatever you can do, do it. Whatever you can sacrifice, sacrifice it. Countless veterans have led by unflinching example: Now, it’s our turn. Yours, and mine. Stop talking about “moving to Canada.” Stop saying that you’re “waiting for it all to pass” or that it’s “too upsetting to follow.” Stop allowing the media to gloss over travesty after travesty after travesty. Speak up, stand up, and show up.
Fight like a soldier.
And in the meantime, if you want to help U.S. veterans right this very moment, please consider donating your time, talents, or money to Operation Delta Dog: Service Dogs for Veterans (OperationDeltaDog.org). At OpDD, “The dogs get the homes they need, and the veterans get the help they deserve.”
And my God, do they deserve it. Happy Veteran’s Day, one and all.
Trisha Blanchet is the author of the forthcoming Mill City Murder (Crooked Lane, 2026) and The Neath Trilogy: Herrick’s End, Herrick’s Lie, and Herrick’s Key. She’s also the producer and host of A Mighty Blaze Podcast and the founder of Operation Delta Dog: Service Dogs for Veterans (OperationDeltaDog.org).