Thanksgiving

For the last four years, Partner and I have had the privilege of dining with bona fide heroes...Rudy Garza, Rusty Bradley, Sean Bennett and Brett Hightower. If you don't recognize the names, it is because they are just four of the thousands of men and women who spend every moment of their lives protecting our country.
They have been bombed, attacked and blown up by IEDs and grenades. Their bodies have been ravaged by wounds and trauma that one could hardly imagine survivable...and yet they have lived to tell their stories, to kiss their wives and hug their children.
Every year, Show of Support brings in wounded military personnel from diverse services and honors them with a weekend hunt and a banquet. After months and sometimes years of medical rehabilitation, these warriors are offered an escape, a hand in friendship and a "show of support."
If you have never attended, mark your calendar for next November. It is truly a life changing event. There is nothing more humbling than to be in a room occupied by so many Purple Heart recipients. While Midland's message to these soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen is obviously an enormous "thank you," the soldiers' message is even more telling:

1. Please give us the equipment and moral support needed to do the job you've sent us to do.
2. Keep informed and educated. The lack of an educated population in the some war-torn areas makes the population pawns of a few literate chiefs.
3. We would rather be fighting terrorists battles in a foreign country than in the United States.

When you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner, remember what you truly have to be grateful for.