Celebrate Veterans Day By Honoring Someone With Your Comment

Veterans day is a day to thank veterans for the sacrifices that they’ve made. It’s impacted my life in a very personal fashion, with my dad, brother, and 2 uncles who served in the military, plus now my incredible AWS family. Military service, by its very nature, requires sacrifice. Men and women put in long hours—often at the expense of family time—to complete the mission. Sometimes deployments take them to combat zones around the globe for months at a time. Think about the sacrifice they make daily and even sometimes are called upon to give up their lives in the defense of their country and the values we hold dear. I have to say "thank you" as they protect our freedom.

My father served in the Air Force. He worked on airplanes as a mechanic. Even though he ended up not being able to be a paratrooper due to bad knees from his football days, he positively impacted airmen and airwomen helping to ensure their planes and helicopters were safe. He sacrificed his dream to help support our great country in other ways. 

My older brother served in the Navy where he was commissioned to a destroyer. A destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. He wasn’t able to tell me much about his missions, but I know that he sacrificed many hours with his family while deployed for months.

My uncle served in WW II in the Army and was the recipient of Purple Heart.  When he died, I received a letter from another Veteran who was on Normandy beach with my uncle and who told me how my uncle helped him survive. I never heard the story of valor from my uncle who had sacrificed so much for our freedom, but was too humble to tell the story himself.

My friend Phil Cullom who is a retired 3-star Admiral, served before and after I knew him at Harvard Business School.  He sacrificed time away from home with his deployments taking him away from his mom and now wife and 2 twin daughters. He served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness & Logistics and the Director, Energy & Environmental Readiness Division. He is one of the most patriot people that I know.

My friend Greg Laskowski, a chaplain in the US Army Guard, is now based in Kansas. He is just home from a deployment in the middle east where he was helping people in the field deal with their loss and surroundings. He will be deployed again in February, leaving behind his wife and his mighty men (his sons). His sacrifices are big and he serves with a big heart.

My colleague Troy Bertram, was in the Army, and was last assigned as a Captain in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC where he deployed multiple times as the communications officer for 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He sacrificed in order to serve his country while being deployed, and risking his life for our freedom. He now proudly serves AWS in our new healthcare focused unit.

Ligeia Zeruto is on our AWS team, while still being on active duty. She developed and commanded the first Army Cyber Protection Team at US Cyber Command and was one of the first female officers integrated in an Infantry Brigade during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, she was one of the first 20 women to attend Ranger School in 2015 in the first year that it opened for women and officially integrated women into all combat arms branches in the US Army. She has made many sacrifices for her country in terms of time, injury, and being separated from her family.

There’s my friend Scott Padgett, who worked with me at IBM, who served as an Army Ranger who made so many sacrifices and always ensured I was safe when leaving the IBM Building late at night. And Christian Hoff, a leader at AWS,  who is retired Army and spent over 15 years in joint assignments at the White House, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Office of Secretary of Defense. 

And this list could go on and on. And it should.  Please add to this LinkedIn post with your personal stories of Veterans who have impacted your life with their sacrifices.