Now that Veterans Day has once again rolled around, I wanted to take a moment to remind our readers that this is not just a day to give thanks or, worse, simply make plans for a day off from work. To be clear, I’m not discounting the value of offering thanks to those who have served. It means a lot. I have one neighbor, a woman in her seventies, who crosses the street every year without fail to say to me, “thank you for your service.” It almost always catches me off guard and my day is a bit brighter because of it. So if you have the opportunity to do so, please don’t be shy.

But there remains far more work to be done and the task is endless and far too often thankless. I am fortunate enough to have enjoyed a good life when I returned to the civilian world and I don’t carry much of the collection of scars – both seen and unseen – that so many other veterans do. Not everyone is so lucky. Some of our veterans are grievously injured and toil with disabilities that will impact them for the rest of their lives. Thankfully, there are organizations out there that help them overcome some of their greatest challenges, but they are perpetually short of resources.

One such organization is Homes for our Troops. They construct or refurbish homes, making them accessible to people with physical limitations, particularly those confined to wheelchairs. They provide these homes to disabled veterans at little to no cost and help them locate caregivers if required. If you feel motivated and have the ability to do so, please consider offering them a donation to continue their work.

Or, if that’s not an approach that interests you, an even simpler way to reach out is to just make sure that veterans receive a surprise card in the mail from time to time, thanking them for their service. One of several groups that organize these mailings is A Million Thanks. They operate a year-round operation locating veterans and connecting them with people who wish to send cards with prayers and messages of gratitude. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can brighten the day of a veteran who may be out there living alone and wondering if the nation has forgotten them.

Then there is the situation that likely exists right in your own neighborhood. If you happen to know someone who lives near you and is a veteran but they don’t seem very outgoing or gregarious, please keep in mind that post-traumatic stress comes in many forms. Not all wounds are visible. I can tell you this from experience because my father served in World War 2 in one of Patton’s vulture squads. He killed a lot of Germans and thankfully came home alive, but he was an entirely changed man. Nobody knew what PTSD was back then, but in retrospect, our family realized that my dad has suffered from it in silence until the day he died. With a bit of patience, you might be able to reach out to someone who is in a similar situation and break the ice. It’s at least worth the effort, provided you aren’t too intrusive or aggressive about it.

I’ll climb down from my soapbox now and simply add my own thanks to all of my fellow veterans out there. We wouldn’t have a country without you and we recognize the sacrifices you made to keep the great experiment that is America moving forward.