On Veterans Day, many Americans pause to honor the brave men and women who have worn our nation’s uniform. Their courage, sacrifice, and resilience have secured the freedoms we hold dear. While their service is rightly celebrated, there are other stories often left untold.
The families who support and stand behind our service members are unsung heroes who have also sacrificed in countless ways. Their strength has quietly shaped how our veterans are supported on the home front.
In many ways, the strength of military families has helped shape the story of America itself. For every generation of service members, there has been a generation of families holding the line at home, keeping faith, protecting traditions, and carrying the weight of service in their own quiet way. Their sacrifices remind us that service to country is never carried by one person alone. It is a shared commitment, stretching across households, generations, and communities.
I had two daughters before joining the Marine Corps. I knew that putting on the uniform would provide us with many benefits, but I didn’t truly understand the contribution that they would have to make – one they and my family members didn’t sign up for.
There are countless celebrations and big events that I missed, but being part of the military, this becomes part of our stories with our families.
For every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine, there are loved ones at home carrying the weight of their absence. Families of service members learn to navigate life daily while enduring the uncertainty of having a loved one away during trainings, workups, and deployments. Family members’ sacrifices rarely come with parades or medals, but they are woven into the fabric of everyday life in ways that are ordinary, profound and unseen.
Family members endure missed birthdays that pass without a parent present to sing “Happy Birthday” in person, anniversaries celebrated over phone calls instead of candlelit dinners, graduations where the cheers of siblings and grandparents ring loud but still cannot fill the empty chair left by a service member. Life’s celebrations, too, sometimes take place without a beloved brother, sister, son, or daughter in attendance, leaving families to balance joy with absence.
Even everyday moments take on new weight. The first day of school, the last game of a season, a walk across the stage, or the lighting of candles at a family gathering. Each moment becomes a reminder not only of what has been achieved, but also what it took to get there without the whole family present.
These family sacrifices ripple across generations. Mothers and fathers carry the dual role of parent and partner, holding families steady during long deployments. Siblings grow up learning resilience and independence earlier than most, filling in for missing roles. Grandparents step in as second parents, offering stability and love while their children serve. In every case, family members learn to shoulder the burden of waiting, of worrying, and of keeping life moving forward until reunions are possible.
Too often, these families suffer in silence. Their sacrifices are not as visible as those of their loved ones in uniform. Family members smile through loneliness, carry traditions through uncertainty, and summon strength from places they didn’t know they had. Their love and resilience provide the foundation that allows service members to focus on their duty, knowing that home is being cared for during their time of service.
This Veterans Day, as we honor the men and women who have served, let us also shine a light on the families who have given so much while asking for so little in return. They are the ones who have endured milestones missed, holidays altered, and moments forever marked by absence. They are the mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, spouses, and children who remind us that freedom is a gift carried not just by those who wear the uniform, but by all who love and support them.
Their stories deserve to be told, their struggles recognized, and their resilience celebrated. For in their quiet sacrifices, we find some of the greatest examples of courage, devotion, and strength.
So, this Veterans Day, I want to thank my family for standing the post on the home front during my time of service and ensure that they know that their support has never gone unappreciated. I want to dedicate this Veterans Day to you.
