Veterans Day 2025: Honoring most of those who serve or have served
November 11 is Veterans Day, a day set aside each year to recognize the dedication and sacrifice of America’s military veterans. To be honest, I’m a little conflicted about Veterans Day 2025 due to the tyranny and authoritarianism we are witnessing on a nearly daily basis from Donald Trump.
Having spent my entire life before leaving home at age 18 in a military family, I am fully aware of the sacrifices most men and women make to serve and protect America, but today’s military members are being used to enforce defacto martial law as a domestic police force very reminiscent of Hitler’s Gestapo, as I documented back in August:
An internal memo circulated inside the Department of Homeland Security suggests that Trump’s use of the military for domestic law enforcement on immigration could soon get worse. The memo—obtained by The New Republic—provides a glimpse into the thinking of top officials as they seek to involve the Defense Department more deeply in these domestic operations, and it has unnerved experts who believe it portends a frightening escalation.
The memo lays out the need to persuade top Pentagon officials to get much more serious about using the military to combat illegal immigration—and not just at the border. It suggests that DHS is anticipating many more uses of the military in urban centers, noting that L.A.-style operations may be needed “for years to come.” And it likens the threat posed by transnational gangs and cartels to having “Al Qaeda or ISIS cells and fighters operating freely inside America,” hinting at a ramped-up militarized posture inside the interior.
“The memo is alarming, because it speaks to the intent to use the military within the United States at a level not seen since Japanese internment,” Carrie Lee, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told me. “The military is the most powerful, coercive tool our country has. We don’t want the military doing law enforcement. It absolutely undermines the rule of law.”
The memo was authored by Philip Hegseth—the younger brother of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who is a senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DHS liaison officer to the Defense Department. As such, it also sheds light on Hegseth the Younger’s role, which has been the subject of media speculation labeling him an obscure but influential figure in his brother’s MAGA orbit. (Emphasis mine)
Further evidence of Trump’s tyrannical use of the military is seen in the lethal strikes he and Hegseth have launched against Venezuelan boats in Caribbean waters and the coordinated militarized raids on homes in Chicago that involve rappelling down on apartment buildings from Black Hawk helicopters, dragging families out of their homes, separating children from their parents, and using zip ties to immobilize them—even American citizens.
Throughout history, however, most of those who have served in the military were motivated by a desire to protect the rights endowed to us by God and enshrined by our Founding Fathers in the U.S. Constitution. In recognition of those sacrifices, I still want to give honor to these men and women for their courage and dedication.
Hopefully, there will still be an America where we will have reason to honor those who serve on future Veterans Day celebrations.
——————————————-
US Army veteran Charles M. Province, the Founder and President of the George S. Patton, Jr. Historical Society and author of several books about General Patton, once penned this poem about the liberty we have thanks to the American Soldier:
It is the soldier, not the minister,
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us Freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us Freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer,
Who has given us a right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
One of Ronald Reagan’s most famous speeches, A Soldier’s Pledge, was given as a tribute to the heroism, courage, and sacrifice displayed by those who serve in America’s Armed Forces (see below). In that speech, Mr. Reagan said the following about the American Soldier.
“We must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have. It is a weapon that we, as Americans, do have.”
Many who served our country in the military have paid the ultimate price by giving their very lives to defend and protect freedom. And while we should never forget those who paid such a price — that’s why we have Memorial Day — Veterans Day is the day we celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans by honoring them.
The battle for liberty continues today, and even with the odds a million-to-one against us, there’s still a chance of victory if we maintain our resolve and refuse to give up.
So, I invite you to find a current or past member of the military and thank them for their service to our country. And let us never forget: It’s because of the fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters who serve or have served in the military in the past that we are free to exercise our God-given, unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
That’s why we should always take time to show them the honor they deserve, especially on Veterans Day 2025.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties. He the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty.
Follow the Strident Conservative on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to receive podcasts of his daily radio feature: iTunes | Pandora | Tune In | iHeart | RSS
For media inquiries or to have David speak to your group, use the Contact Us form.
