Captain Alan Solis USMC with his two children.
The time has come to set aside politics for just one day and reflect upon the many sacrifices of our military veterans across the nation and world. Our veterans, past and present, provide the very freedom that allows our political process to function. Veterans Day is a time to pause the political rhetoric for just a moment in order to say thank you to our military veterans.
Johnny F. Luévano Jr.
So as I pass along my thanks to my fellow brothers and sisters in arms, I would like to shift gears a bit and also focus on the families of our nation’s veterans.
Pictured is my good friend, Captain Alan Solis USMC, who is returning from Afghanistan and reuniting with his two children. This was his third deployment of seven months or longer – two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. I appreciate Alan allowing me to use the photo, and a special thanks to his wife, Emily, for holding down the fort with the two kiddos while Alan was serving our great country overseas.
During my time in Iraq I got to know a few Iraqi soldiers, and each one was in disbelief that strangers would leave their families behind to defend the freedom of another country. Each would ask how our families get by without us around for long periods of time, and each admitted they couldn’t make that same sacrifice for their own country, let alone another country.
I think too often the sacrifice that our military families make is overlooked. Today is also an appreciation for the sacrifices of the military parent, military spouse and the military children who are the most vulnerable to the tough military lifestyle.
Right now there are military spouses struggling to single-handily manage the day-to-day routines of the household with little to no family support to lean upon. One family in particular that I know is facing a harsh situation.
Recently I met a couple that just arrived in Tucson and, upon arrival, the husband was notified he would be deploying within days. The wife was forced to familiarize herself with the new area without any support from family or friends. To top it off, she is pregnant with their second child.
Her son and my son have become friends during this tough period, and it is evident the family separation is weighing heavily upon this little boy as he struggles to internally deal with the absence of his father. I am sure this same storyline is nothing new to the history of the military family, and it continues to play out all over our country today.
So today I ask each of you to not only say thank you to our veterans, but extend a well-deserved thank you to the military families that have earned their stripes with each sacrifice they make to support the military veteran.
I pass along my own thank you to my daughter, who I dragged from coast to coast for 18 years, including an untimely military move during the all-important high school years. Happy Veterans Day kiddo. You earned it, and Applebee’s is on me tonight.
Luévano, a newly registered Republican, is a lifelong New Mexico resident and an Artesia native who currently lives in Tucson, Ariz. He graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2001 with a bachelor’s in political science and economics and from the University of Kansas in 2008 with a master’s in public administration. You can reach Luévano at www.johnnyluevano.com or find him on Facebook.