Veterans are a special and unique group of people. No better or worse than others, but special and unique. At one time in our lives each one of us raised our hand, swore an oath to the Constitution and were ready to lay down our lives for our nation and each one of you.

For those of us who experienced combat firsthand, we are forever changed.  Seeing what human beings can inflict on others; what happens to our bodies and minds; and returning home unable to really communicate that to friends and loved ones – it all binds us together.

As veterans, many of us have dedicated our lives to leaving it better than we found it. The sacrifices of so many in our ranks must be honored and remembered. Each one of you has that opportunity on Veterans Day. We want our nation and our communities to succeed, and we want Americans to live in peace – the peace we earned for you. During times of division in our country, such as now, it is often veterans who rise above the noise and remind us of honor, freedom, civility and being part of a team. We have seen nations and communities ripped apart and are seeing those same cracks forming in America today. Veterans know firsthand it is far easier to tear down and destroy than to rebuild and preserve a lasting peace.

After the Great War, World War I, a war that saw more than 40 million men and women, combatants and civilians, lose their lives to machine guns, tanks, poison gas, airplane dropped bombs, artillery and disease, we said we would never forget the lessons or repeat the horrors. Sadly, I have come to believe war, and not peace, to be the natural state of man. Despite the horrors of World War I, the war that would end all wars, we would go onto fight in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan and many smaller conflicts in between.

Today our world is torn apart again by war, to include a war in Europe between Russia and the Ukraine and now in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas.   As veterans we instinctively know somehow America will be drawn into both of those conflicts and others. I wonder in my own life, after fighting multiple wars during a 30-year career, why the world seems even more dangerous today?

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It is important to remember and honor our veterans for their sacrifices and service and to acknowledge there will be new veterans, our sons, and daughters, in this brave new world. Veterans Day was first called Armistice Day and was first celebrated on Nov. 11, 1919, on the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 making it an annual observance and in 1938 it became a national holiday.

Veterans meet on many occasions, many of us belong to the American Legion and the VFW. We honor our wounded in Purple Heart organizations and our special operations ranks in their organizations, and many more. Every day now, I hear firsthand just how disappointed veterans are with what our country has done with the peace we have earned. We wonder out loud where the honor and decorum has gone. Those of us who have fought in combat understand firsthand there are no color, gender, or political divides for those who fight. So why are we fighting each other about nearly everything in 2023? It seems we can no longer respectfully disagree and seek compromise.

Saddest of all, we have begun to actually hate each other because of our differences We need to tone down the rhetoric before it’s too late and, rather than focusing on our differences, look to what binds us together. As veterans we would ask you to remember we can lose this American experiment after so many of our ranks have sacrificed for it. This is exactly what our enemies want.

This Veterans Day, honor us by helping us to bring our communities back together. Colorado veterans are asking for a course correction. That change must come from each one of you. It must start locally in our own communities. Our nation will follow.

Abraham Lincoln recognized this 160 years ago when he said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Dan Williams is a retired U.S. Army colonel and multiple combat veteran and Apache helicopter pilot. He is the District 1 Teller County commissioner and commands Post 1980 of the American Legion and is a member of Post 6051 VFW. He lives with his wife Suzan, also a U.S. Army colonel and Army nurse, on their ranch near Cripple Creek.