This Veterans Day, as we remember and give thanks to those who have served, we’re proud to share the 7th Annual Bipartisan Veterans Day Special Edition of The Ripon Forum, featuring Republican and Democratic elected leaders who served our country in uniform reflecting on what this day means to them.
From The Ripon Forum
Veterans Day Special Edition 2025
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** “WHAT VETERANS DAY
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** MEANS TO ME”
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“You learn what it means to serve — and serve with distinction.”
By Wes Moore
There’s a misguided perception among civilians that soldiers are good at only one thing: Following orders. We know three words, the myth goes – “Yes,” “No,” and “Sir.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. When I deployed to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division, I didn’t just learn how to follow in times of crisis — I learned how to lead in times of crisis. The same went for the brave soldiers I fought alongside.
In the Army, you learn what it means to serve — and serve with distinction. You figure out how to adapt to new challenges. You start forgetting about ideological or political distractions. That education lasts a lifetime.
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“Serving my country was the greatest adventure of my life.”
By Tom Barrett
Each Veterans Day, I'm reminded of the decision I made to enlist in the Army — a decision that shaped the rest of my life. Just a few days after I graduated from high school, I boarded the first airplane ride of my life when I shipped out to basic combat training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. By Christmas Eve, I landed at my first duty assignment 9,000 miles from home in South Korea. Nine months later, everything changed when America came under attack from terrorists on 9/11. My service took me from the Korean DMZ to the cell blocks of Guantanamo Bay, the desert sands of Iraq and Kuwait, and ultimately into the cockpit of some of the most advanced helicopters in the world. Serving my country was the greatest adventure of my life.
After 9/11, the missions we trained for became reality. Then, I experienced firsthand how our wars dragged on for years, and even decades, without any sense of urgency or end goal. Through it all, heroes continued to serve and sacrifice. In the two decades following 9/11, we lost just over 7,000 American service members in conflicts across the Middle East. Each one of those losses represents a family forever changed, a future unrealized, and a debt our nation can never fully repay.
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“I am reminded of those who came before me.”
By Gil Cisneros
I look back on my time in uniform very fondly. During my time in the Navy, I built lasting friendships, traveled the world, and, most importantly, created opportunities for myself that I never could have imagined.
Five days after graduating from high school, I was off to boot camp. It wasn’t long after I walked off the bus at RTC San Diego that I started to wonder if I had made the right decision. But there was no turning back.
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“It’s about recommitting ourselves to the future.”
By Gabe Evans
As Veterans Day approaches, I pause to reflect on what it means to wear the uniform of the United States. For me, service has always been more than a calling — it has been part of my family’s story and my own journey as an American.
My Abuelo, Cuauhtemoc Chavez, was born in Mexico and legally earned his American citizenship through military service during World War II. He joined the U.S. Army in 1943 as a teenager and fought for Patton’s 3rd Army. He was wounded twice, once in 1944 and again in 1945, and was awarded the Purple Heart for both these injuries. His sacrifice taught me at a young age that being an American is not only a privilege, but also a responsibility.
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“Service to our country always comes before service to any party.”
By Maggie Goodlander
New Hampshire’s mid-November air is crisp and carries a certain stillness — a calm before the first storms of winter. On Veterans Day, that stillness and calm take me back to the very beginning. New Hampshire is the home of the American Revolution, home of the United States Constitution, and my family’s home for more than a century. Here we live by our motto: “Live Free or Die.”
You see and hear a love of country everywhere you go in New Hampshire — from the granite memorials honoring fallen heroes that stand at the heart of nearly every town and city across our state to the sounds of bugles playing the twenty-four notes of Taps that play each and every summer night in our State Veterans Cemetery.
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The Ripon Forum is published six times a year by The Ripon Society, a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 –Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.
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