Veteran's Day and my father

My dad was a veteran. Never saw any combat but served during the Suez Crisis in the 1950's. My father was straight forward and easy going and didn't strike me as a military man. It was the coolest thing that he was in the armed services because if you knew him, the rest of his life was far from the military life.
My dad pointed to his years in the military as the years that turned him around. Left UConn to enter the Army with "C's" and came back to get "A's". I am sure that has been the case for many people but it seemed to mean more coming from my father. It was a real and uncomplicated answer; a dramatic change in his performance due to that one experience. I sometimes wish I could point to an event like that in my life. But actually, it was the time he spent learning about himself that changed his direction and effort.
So I will think about different people on this Veteran's Day but first and foremost my father. Veteran's Day is a day to be thankful for the men/women who changed the world for the better and I am thankful for the world that changed my father.