This Memorial Day weekend we remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice defending our nation.
Coast Guard veteran, Rodney Ringler said there are others who share in that sacrifice.
"It's the sacrifices that, not just our service member gives, it's what the whole family has to sacrifice," Ringler said. "It's important to me and most the other people out there that that recognition is given because I don't think that anybody pays a higher price that the husband, the wife, the mom, the dad that moves or ends up making the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms and liberties."
Steve Maxner said the sacrifices made are worth it.
"There's no greater honor," said Maxner, Lubbock Advisory Committee, chairman. "I would think every other veteran here would say the same thing. This is our nation, these are the things that we believe in, these are the things that I am willing to sacrifice for so that we can enjoy the life that we have."
Ringler said when he joined the Coast Guard after Vietnam, conditions were less than ideal but they have come a long way since.
"In that era we were directed to travel in civilian clothes because there was such an anti-military sentiment," Ringler said. "You could get in fights, you could get spit upon, you could get cursed at, you could get a lot of disrespect. That changed radically in just the time that I was in active duty."
Even with the improvements of how veterans are treated when they come home, Christopher Beck said there is still a lot of work to do.
"There's just a lot of issues, you know, that vets face when they come home," said Beck, Army veteran. "PTSD for instance, or PTS as it's now called. You know, we all deal with that, trying to figure out the triggers for that. Medical, that's a big one."
Greg Gittner, senior case worker with VetStar, one of the organizations helping vets when they come home, said Memorial Day weekend is set aside for those veterans who could not be at Saturday's salute.
"It's really not about the veterans that are here today talking," Gittner said. "It's about the ones that've passed for memorial day weekend. So probably the best thing that you can do is not thank a veteran, but just take a moment of silence at some point."
