At Task Force Pizza, Veterans Day isn’t just another date on the calendar — it’s personal. It’s woven into our families, our roots, and the people we love. And today, I want to share a story that has shaped the way I see this day forever.

My dad fought in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. He earned two Purple Hearts and came home an amputee at only nineteen years old. Nineteen. Let that sink in.

He’s one of many brave men in my family who served, but something he told me years ago has stayed with me every Veterans Day. He said it made him uncomfortable when people thanked him for his service. When I asked why, he told me he didn’t feel like he should be thanked for taking other people’s lives.

Those words hit me in a way I’ll never forget, because I saw a man who gave everything for his country — his youth, his leg, his peace — and yet carried a lifetime of guilt instead of pride. A man who woke up every day with pain in a leg that wasn’t even there anymore. A man who had seen the unthinkable and kept it all inside.

I always wished he could see himself the way I saw him: the bravest man I’d ever known. A man who raised his right hand and swore to defend the Constitution of the United States, fully aware that it could cost him everything.

So even though I understood why he felt uneasy being thanked, I also knew he deserved every ounce of recognition for his sacrifice — and so do all who’ve served.

That’s why now, instead of only saying thank you for your service, I choose to honor veterans by doing things that matter — learning about their struggles, supporting organizations that help them heal, and using the very rights they fought so hard to protect. Like the right to vote!

Because if we don’t vote… if we don’t show up for the country they bled for… then what in the hell did they fight for?

So today, on Veterans Day, let’s do more than say the words. Let’s mean them. Let’s live them. Let’s honor our heroes by actually standing up for the country they risked everything to defend.

From our family at Task Force Pizza to every veteran reading this — we see you, we honor you, and we thank you.