{"id":3573,"date":"2012-11-11T20:26:56","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T02:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tombedell.com\/?p=3573"},"modified":"2019-12-20T19:44:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T01:44:17","slug":"veterans-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/3573\/veterans-day","title":{"rendered":"Veterans Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Nov. 11, 2012] <\/em>I was lacing up my golf shoes before our round at the Bali Hai Golf Club<\/a> when Sam Brown came into the locker room. We got to talking, and Sam told me about how the Humvee he was in rolled over an IED in Afghanistan\u2019s Kandahar desert, consuming the vehicle and Brown in flames.<\/p>\n

Brown was at the course to take part in the third annual Harmon\u2019s Heroes<\/a> tournament, organized by instructor Butch Harmon and sponsored in large part by JMA Services. Butch puts the veterans involved\u2014many severally injured in the OIF or OEF conflicts\u2014through his school for a couple of days, and then lets them loose in a fund-raising golf tournament that assists wounded vets in acquiring their own homes.<\/p>\n

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Butch Harmon (left) watches Sam Brown take a swing at Harmon’s Heroes 2012 (Photos courtesy @Robert Kaufman)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was Veterans Day. And looking at Brown, it was plain that he must have undergone intense pain and mental anguish in his long recovery from the explosion. But once he related his story he asked me, \u201cAre you a veteran?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I was in the Army during the Vietnam era.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for your service,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know whether to laugh or cry. My stint seemed like a joke next to Brown\u2019s ordeal. But he meant it in all sincerity. So all I could do was reply in kind, \u201cThank you for your service.\u201d<\/p>\n