Our Service Men and Women Deserve Thanks For All They Do by Jill Schultz
Our Service Men and Women Deserve Thanks For All They Do
As our annual day of thankfulness approaches, it’s once again time to take stock of the things for which we’re grateful. We generally dwell on areas like good health, friends, and family, but we need to broaden our scope to include those blessings we tend to take for granted, particularly the freedoms offered by our country. So many places in the world do not enjoy the liberties and choices we experience day after day.
To think along these lines means appreciating the men and women around the world who have willingly stepped into harm’s way both now and in the past to keep our liberty alive. This includes both active military personnel and the defense contractor employees who today play a large role in supporting our troops all over the world and who are also putting their lives on the line.
Many of the defense contractors work to thank our military personnel by providing a little bit of home in faraway places. DynCorp International currently supports U.S. troops and civilian employees in Southern Afghanistan, and each year their food service staff creates a Thanksgiving meal for those who can’t be with their families for the holiday.
Here at home, DI and other defense contractors such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin thank our troops by supporting their families and by hiring soldiers when their military service ends. Once hired, our former warriors give to us again through volunteer work performed as employees of these various companies.
Along with being a strategic partner of the Hire Our Heroes program and a member of the Veterans Employment Advisory Council (VEAC), Lockheed Martin employees participate in a number of community volunteer efforts including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education outreach activities and their Employee Disaster Relief Fund.
Similarly, Raytheon Corporation helps former military personnel make the transition back to civilian life with their Wounded Warrior Project and is also committed to community outreach in math and science education as well as support to local communities. This includes volunteering, charitable giving and contributions.
So this year, when you number all the things you’re grateful for, remember all that our service men and women have done–and are still doing–to make our lives and our communities richer in so many ways.
