I was lucky: I turned 18 after the Vietnam War, so I never even had to register for the draft. And a good thing, too: I was unfit for military service on a variety of levels, my lifelong interest in the subject notwithstanding.
On days like this, I wonder what I would have done if I had been drafted. I honestly don’t know; it was the land of no good options. As a result, I fully respect the decisions that everyone made at the time. The people who are most entitled to our love and admiration, however, are the ones who went and suffered for it, along with their friends and families.
The cliche is wrong; they died for what the government wrongly thought were American interests, not for our freedom. That diminishes the sacrifice not one whit. If anything, it amplifies it.
So, today, I will do my best to be worth dying for. Have a good holiday.