I wrote this speech for Veteran’s Day but didn’t follow it all the way they were through since I ran out of time! Next time, I will remember to get a timeframe!

Good Morning!

I’m going to be a bit interactive today… What you get from me is what I get from you! I want to hear you! Let’s let the neighbors hear you!

Let’s try this again: Good Morning!

Happy Veteran’s Day to everyone out there! And to all the Veterans here in attendance, Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you. From the very bottom of my heart! Thank you for your service and the blank check you wrote – to include your lives! Thank you.

As you heard, I am Kenny Holmes, SGT Retired. I was in the Army for 12 years until they said I couldn’t play anymore… But I am a Combat Veteran, and I am an Infantryman. If I could, for two seconds, take some time to recognize the Veterans in the room, please? All right now… If you were a Veteran, please stand up and be recognized… Let’s give these people a big round of applause! My sincerest gratitude goes to you all. Thank you. This is why America is the greatest country in the world – these people shared their lives and were willing to give so much for this wonderful country we live in! One more round of applause for them, please!

Bringing it back now.

Do you all know what a Veteran is?

A Veteran is someone who served our country in the armed forces.

How many branches of the military are there? This might be a tricky one based on your understanding of the military.

That’s right – 6! Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force and Coast Guard. I haven’t met a Space Force Veteran yet, but they will be coming, eventually; how cool will that be to be that person! How many of you have family members who are Veterans? A show of hands… That’s awesome! When you get home today or when you see them tomorrow, make sure to tell them Happy Veterans Day.

Differences Between

Show of hands, how many of you know what Memorial Day is?

Do you know there is a difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day? This is big, everyone. That doesn’t get said much to people because it is a thing that sometimes causes stress. Memorial Day and Veterans Day seem like the same thing, right? In a sense, they seem like it might be the same. We are honoring Veterans, but there is a key difference: on Memorial Day, we celebrate the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who died in combat or due to combat; for many of us Veterans, it’s our day of remembrance. While having the day off and doing some barbequing is awesome, it’s our turn to remember, mourn, and celebrate our lost brothers and sisters.

Be Happy Veterans

Veteran’s Day is a time to be happy! It is a time to celebrate those who served their country and made it back to us alive! Many of us get together on those days and enjoy the camaraderie we have with one another as veterans.  As a matter of fact, that is what I am going to do tomorrow – a group of my Veteran friends and I are going to lunch, and we are going to have fun and tell the stories that we all know but keep up with one another.

Veteran’s Day is a happy day! It’s a day where we do ceremonies and talk to people about our service; I mean, there are a few things we don’t like to talk about (as a general rule of thumb), but otherwise, for many of us, our service was fun. It was exciting. It was an adventure. We were “being all we can be” because we are the “the few and the proud.”

How Many People

How many people are in the United States?

331.9 million people live in the United States.

Of that number, 331.9 million people, how many served in the United States Military? Go ahead and guess.

6.4% currently. Of that 6.4%, 3% went to combat. That is just over 9 million people – out of 331.9 MILLION people! That’s not a lot, is it?! That’s why it is so important to us to be with one another on those days.

We try to be positive about being together as much as we can because people need other people with shared experiences. We need to lean on each other as much as possible because that is what we do as humans. No one should be alone; we are meant to be social.

My Beginnings

So like I said, I am a Veteran. I served my country in the United States Army from 2000 to 2012. I am from here. Elkhart. I actually went to North Side, but please don’t hold that against me! Haha. But I grew up in Elkhart, and after my service, I returned to Elkhart because I love it here, and it is my home!

In the Army

In the Army, they give you a choice about what you get to do in the service, and really I had yet to decide what I wanted to do. I didn’t know that there were almost 300 jobs in the Army. The only thing I knew about the Army when I joined was that it was America’s Fighting Force. The recruiters all asked me what I wanted to do, and I had no idea. I was a kid; who really knows what they want to do as a kid?! At MEPS (military entrance processing station) they sat me down with this really nice woman, and she asked me about my ASVAB test scores, even though she had them already in front of her. They do that (the military) they ask questions that they already have the answer to. But at any rate, she asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And what she was really asking was, “What job do you want to do in the Army?” I looked at her confidently and said, “I want to be Airborne, and I want a college bonus…”

MEPS

Now, this isn’t something that many people say to them. Most people who go to MEPS know exactly what they want to do. Me… Nope! I only knew I wanted to jump out of “perfectly good” airplanes! Let me tell you – and I believe some of my Air Force friends can attest, they were not “perfectly good.” In the military, we used duct tape for everything, but I didn’t realize holding a wing on was a good use of duct tape! I digress… The MEPS lady… Man, she saw me coming… They say a sucker is born every second; well, at that moment… <thumbs point towards me> that was me.

“Have you ever heard of the Infantry?”

“Well, watch this quick video…” She proceeded to show me this video that is of young men my age, at the time, that shows men running and gunning. In the mud, blowing things up, and having a good ole time! 18-year-old me, was…

“Where do I sign up?”

The Beginning

This was the beginning of the nightmare that was 14 weeks long for me. Also, if I could do it again, I would relive it in a heartbeat because it taught me something. Do you know what it taught me?!  It taught me that 1) I was clearly not the athlete I thought I was and 2) that give up is not a word in my vocabulary…

“QUIT! Just QUIT!” My Body was telling me, “That’s all you have to do, and this pain will be all over.” But the Army had other thoughts. The Army taught me that quitting is not an option because if I quit – the man on my left and/or right could get killed! The Army taught me that whatever I do, I need to give 110% and that when I do not have any more gas left in the tank… there is always more gas in the tank; otherwise, a Drill Sergeant is going to be on your butt and screaming at you!

Airborne School

After basic training, there was Advanced Infantry Training, and that was… ffffuunnnnn! I got through and finally made it to Airborne school. Yeah, where do they teach you that the airplanes in the Air Force are not perfectly good? However, going through all that running and learning how not to quit came into play almost immediately while I was in Airborne school. Running – if there was a word I didn’t understand at the time, it was that. Running takes on a whole new meaning once you enter the military. Because one does not simply walk – one will run everywhere you go in a training facility post. Or one will be walking the walk of shame and not graduating as an Airborne Soldier.

Running… Running… Running… Being tall was not fun in Airborne School, and I am not particularly tall – I am average height, but taller than a lot, shorter than a few. Airborne School runs every day for Physical Training. We ran to PT, we ran for PT, from PT to showers to get sweaty again, and ran to breakfast, and then we ran from breakfast back to training. On the last day of my second week of Airborne school, which is known as Tower Week, we were running a 5-mile fun run. “Who thinks of it as a fun run was masochist…”  So being tall, I was put in the back of the pack because we had long legs and could keep up a little better, but… who’s ever played with a slinky? Well, at mile 4.75, I had to catch up to the pack because of the slinky effect… I overstretched and pulled a muscle in my leg. I almost immediately had to slow down even further, but remember, you quit; you are only quitting on yourself. Airborne instructors are trained to see who is hurting and who isn’t; they are trained to see if you give up. I didn’t give up! I wanted to. I kept trying to keep up with the pack. It became increasingly more difficult to run because of the pain in my leg.

I did not quit.

I kept going, but I was pulled. I was pulled from training because they could see that I was hurt. People know when you are hurting and will ask questions. It’s okay to be hurt. It’s okay to be scared of the answer, but if you are honest with yourself and the people around you, they will help you.

I got recycled. I didn’t quit. I got to redo the first two weeks of Airborne school and finish the third week to jump. And it was part of a plan because, again, I got to use my training from basic training. The fourth jump of my career, a man I had never met but was in my chalk and jumping from those not-so-perfect airplanes, jumped and slipped right underneath me and lost the air in his parachute. He hit the ground very hard. I… I almost landed on him, but thankfully I slipped away and was pulled by the wind hitting my chute and pulling me away from him. But I could tell that he was hurt. I quickly got out of my chute and ran over to him because I could tell something was wrong. Remember all that training we did and all the running we did?!? That was the reason why. I got over to him, and there was just this little trickle of blood coming from his nose, and he was groaning. He was not well. I immediately started calling for a medic, and I let my adrenaline-soaked brain take over; the training took over. But because I ran and didn’t give up, I could help this Marine. I was able to help this man get the help that he needed.

I did not quit! My fellow military brother got the help he needed.

Military Lessons to a Veteran

The military taught me to do what was necessary to keep living and to help my fellow comrades if they needed it. Thankfully, that training is instilled in almost everyone in the military. Because it became apparent to me one of the times that I was blown up overseas. <pause for dramatic effect>

In Iraq, we were on guard checking IDs and whatnot so that the soldiers could use the available gym. Out of nowhere, there was all of a sudden… BOOM!!! BOOM!!! And the next thing I remember was SSG Franks standing over me – “Holmes, Holmes, Holmes. You okay?!”

As I looked around, I could see the aftermath and hear the sounds of screams and shouts. We jumped into action, and when it was all said and done. Thirty people had been killed… … And my team leader was running like mad to make sure that I was okay. I don’t remember much, but he asked me if I was okay. There was blood all over my face, there was shrapnel in my vest, and my Oakleys were scratched. Yet, none of that blood was mine, and I was fine. Because my friends didn’t quit, they helped keep me alive.

Veterans on Veteran’s Day

Veteran’s Day is more than just a day for us Veterans. It is truly a holiday we love to get together and retell our stories so we don’t forget what we did. It’s a time to remember that it is not the time to quit. We need to make sure that we never give up. We never surrender to the fear surrounding us and can count on each other to help us through it.

Remember that running was more than just a metaphor to me because it helped me save lives and helped my life to be saved – that you can also keep running. You can learn how it is to be all you can be.

Never quit. Never stop being the best you that you can be. If you know people who need help, or if you need help, remember to keep running. Helping one another is the best that you can do. Keep running for that goal. This is something that Veterans learn from the beginning to the end: Never Quit.

Thank you all for having me here today to talk to you, reminisce a little, and hopefully motivate you to keep running! Keep your eyes on the goal, and remember to thank a veteran for their service to this country, if it is your family member, give them a big hug and let them know how much they are appreciated for their sacrifice!

Any questions? Send me a message!

Kenny Holmes