Honoring All Veterinarians Who Have Proudly Served

Yesterday evening in the car, Daniel asked, "Daddy, do we have Russian Math next Tuesday?  ...Because it's Veterinarians' Day?"

This lead to a whole conversation about who is or isn't a veteran.  Daniel had thought that veterans are just the former soldiers who died in combat, but Ian cleared up this point, explaining, as his teacher had told him, that anyone who previously served in the military is considered a veteran.

Daniel was thinking out loud about the role of women in the American military, and he asked a very good question:  "So, what do the girls do - just throw guns around and then give them to the guys?"

I really wasn't sure he had really asked that unusual question, so I asked him to confirm that that was what he had asked, which he did.  I guess it's a reasonable question from Daniel's perspective:  I doubt he imagines the scope of military activity barely going beyond the handling of use of guns (anything less exciting would be unbefitting an "army guy"- so it makes sense that if women are to be involved, without facing actual combat, they should still likely be handling guns, if for no other reason than to give them to the guys.

(November 5, 2013)