As a military brat whose father and brother served in war zones, I have firsthand knowledge of what families go through when service members are deployed. And even without deployment, many military families relocate every few years. So reading about this young man really touched my heart. And he has a book!
(CNN) Davidson is only 9 years old, yet he’s been the man of the house eight times while his dad serves his country.
His father, Dave, is a Green Beret on his 10th deployment. The famil y lives in northern Virginia while Dave is stationed somewhere overseas. Davidson is used to not having his dad around, but he never forgets him.“Sometimes it’s fine because we actually do a lot of fun things while he’s away, but it’s also sad because he’s just not here,” Davidson told CNN. “My mom sometimes breaks down and cries a lot because she misses him. And it’s not really hard for her because I help her, but it’s just she misses him.”

by Davidson Whetstone
Illustrated by his father
Davidson’s father was deployed every year of his young life when, at 6 years old, four days before Christmas, the call came that he was injured by an RPG in Afghanistan. With vivid, compelling art by Davidson’s own active duty father, this book tells the story of Davidson’s brave journey during his father’s service, recovery at Walter Reed Hospital, and return to the battlefield.
Brave For My Family is a book for every American child to read and celebrate the bravery of thos on the homefront when a parent is away fighting for our country.
Proceeds from the book support Military Families and Wounded Warriors through trusted organizations who have demonstrated their commitment to those who serve: Green Beret Foundation, Rick Herrema Foundation, Lead the Way Fund, Navy SEAL Foundation, Semper Fi Fund, and Patriot Foundation.
Closer to home for me – I’m in Niwot several times a month and I love this display:
kindness
Oh crap. I just realized I didn’t hang my flag in front of my house. Guess that means I run home for lunch. Yea I work for a patriotic national organization that does not recognize Veteran’s day as a paid holiday. Martin Luther King day either (which is harder to explain away as our S. Cal organization recognizes it but here in N. Cal they do not).
My leaders are selfish bastards.
debbie
Illustrating his child’s book had to be the best possible therapy for him.
debbie
TaMara, that is the most moving tribute I’ve seen, short of the WWI fields in Europe. Thank you.
bookdragon
My town in PA has done the same wrt pictures of local veterans for a few years now.
Wolvesvalley
Local paper has a nice interview today with a 99-year-old WWII vet.
https://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-nws-veterans-day-in-their-own-words-20191111-77qe5tnam5afxgphcb5llt3lwq-story.html
(Sorry that I can only seem to post a naked link.)
Ian G.
There are a number of different songs I always make time to listen to on Veterans/Armistice/Remembrance Day, one is “Rooster” by Alice In Chains, which is both a “war is hell” narrative, but also a touching salute to guitar player Jerry Cantrell’s father, who fought in Vietnam. The music video opens with the senior Cantrell talking a bit about the experience.
https://youtu.be/uAE6Il6OTcs
WereBear
Wonderful story, but autoplay at the link.
TaMara (HFG)
@WereBear: The CNN link? It doesn’t autoplay for me, but thanks for the warning to others.
Ruckus
I’ve seen similar banners in several towns around in socal. Here in Covina they are displayed year round.
MomSense
@kindness:
No flag for me today because it’s raining and snow is on the way. My mom’s special friend died a few weeks ago. I’m really sad because his family isn’t having a memorial and his few remaining friends from the army wanted to pay respects. I’m trying to encourage my mom to go to Akron while she can still travel and at least meet some of them for lunch.
joel hanes
The best ways to thank vets (I am one) :
1. Observe the original intent of Armistice Day and avoid war except as last resort
(Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. See also Tuchman _The_March_Of_Folly_)
2. Fully fund, then over-fund, the VA, particularly the medical section. We owe it to the people who did the hard parts, regardless of the merits of the mission.
3. A more generous GI Bill. The GI Bill that I enjoyed as a 1972 draftee was in many respects a far better deal than the one we give to today’s military. The people who suffered Iraq/Afghanistan “retention”, some of whom did five or more stints in country, and the reserve troops called up and sent overseas have earned more support than we have given them.
kindness
@MomSense: My regards to your Ma. I’m sorry. It’s funny. I live on a street where 5 families have flag poles in their front yards (unlighted) and have a flag out 24/7 no matter what. I was a Boy Scout long enough to remember 1) no flying the flag at night unless it has lighting & 2) no flying a flag in inclement weather. They play like they are patriots but they don’t really care enough to follow the actual rules.
joel hanes
@kindness:
Also, the flag is never to be draped or used as bunting, and is never to be worn as or made into clothing.
Also, when a flag wears out, the flag code recommends respectfully burning it. (To be scrupfair, the flag code was written when many people had incinerators at the back of the yard, and routinely burned household wastepaper.)
Martin
My city has a display of all of the active duty service members from the city on one of the main streets in the city (we have a LOT of main streets). I get to see my neighbor’s son every time I drive up that street. The city cycles through most of it’s street displays like that, but this one is permanent.
We don’t have a display like that for vets, but we do have a park dedicated to vets where they’re recognized. Considering the city wasn’t incorporated until the waning days of the Vietnam War, it’s nice that we’ve picked up the kind of traditions that you find in towns that sent their kids off to WWI and WWII.
divF
The book, and the day, makes me think of my father. Career Army NCO, first enlisted just after WWII, served in Korea (I was born while he was in Korea) and Vietnam. During the Vietnam tour (1968) my brother and I were teenagers, and my sister was 5; around that time, he also served two unaccompanied tours in Korea (1965,1971), plus a year in a convalescent hospital being treated for tuberculosis. So out of seven years, he was away for four of them.
It always tickled him that November 11 was both Veteran’s day, and his birthday.
Ruckus
@joel hanes:
I like how you think.
I think it’s pretty amazing how well the VA does work considering the budget and some of the dunderhead crap from DC over the years. I wonder sometimes if a lot of vets even look past their own little worlds to consider what the VA actually does and how big it really is. I saw somewhere that the VA is the single largest healthcare provider in the country. But all I hear from a lot of vets is how bad it is. I want to ask them who they voted for, but then I’d hear all kinds of bullshit about since trump the budget has gotten better. Seeing as how congress allocates funds and how the only difference I can see after 2 1/2 yrs of shit head is fancier bullshit on the website and being thanked for my service by employees regularly and the myhealthevet website being far worse than it’s been for years. Which would be typical of everything trump, to tart up everything, gold spray paint the shit and call it fancy.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@joel hanes: The Webb GI Bill isn’t bad, paid full freight for the kid’s nursing education though a Cal-State and a stipend.
joel hanes
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Good to know.
Did your kid have to do six years to get that?
I got 45 months of $550/month — which in today’s dollars would be $2,625/month.
And the cost of college has risen much more quickly than inflation.
J R in WV
So,, this starts out a little off topic, but homes in pretty quickly.
Saturday wife and I went to see a movie for the first expedition since she fell and broke her ribs, did a little shopping, ate some Mexican, saw Current War.
While coming out of the theater I visited the head / bathroom. While in my stall, I heard a young man ask “So were you in the Army?” and an older guy said, “Sure was, a long, long time ago!” Later on I saw the older guy, he was wearing an Army baseball cap, so younger guy was not a mind reader.
Then the younger guy said “Me too, I just got out 5 months ago.” Then he thanked the older guy for his service, and the older guy said “Well, you’re welcome. Thank you for your service, too!”
I’m a vet, and I’m not that comfortable being thanked for my service being as I enlisted during NIxon’s Vietnam War to avoid the draft, but I thought that little etiquette dance was both hilarious and kinda sweet on this weekend.
Also, the movie was pretty good, Tom Edison, George Westinghouse and a little dose of Nikolai Tesla, who invented electric motors running on AC current, as well as a lot of other hardware still used today for our power system… It’s kind of jerky feeling as the scene jumps from Edison’s story to Westinghouse’s and back, but then I saw that the director was using that jerky feeling to build suspense.
Highly recommended, probably won’t be in theaters for long.
The 1890s heavy industry and high life of wealthy industrialists was really interesting. Westinghouse invented the air brakes first used on trains, and still used on heavy trucks today, and believed that AC current was better than Edison’s DC current. That’s the Current War.
And sincere thanks to all the other Veterans out there!!
And fuck LBJ, Nixon and W Bush for their illegal wars!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@joel hanes: She was in the Air Force for 6 1/2 years. IIRC Webb GI pays the full cost of tuition and fees at a state university plus a stipend. I do know the stipend lasted for a bit after she graduated(maybe 6 months, by then she’d got her RN and her current job).
Leto
@bookdragon: My town here in PA does it too. First I had seen something like that, which I thought was nice. Ton of WW2 vets, less vets my age/generation, but there are a few up. I was surprised this little town had so many vets but it did span the generations.
@joel hanes: the post 9/11 GI Bill is a pretty good deal. 10 years ago it was really nice but then Republicans, and unsurprisingly fellow service members, thought it “too generous” and axed parts of it. Regardless, it’s still really good. There is also the Yellow Ribbon Program that most universities participate in: if the GI Bill doesn’t cover full tuition, the school picks up the remaining amount.
I always had to stay abreast of GI Bill benefits/changes to ensure my Airmen knew what was up.
Cheryl from Maryland
We have a 1919 era US flag which we hang from our balcony on Armistice Day. We also wear poppy pins — I remember as a girl my father bought me one every year from the WWI veteran selling them downtown. Still angry that Trump didn’t brave the rain last year to go to the Belleau Wood celebration — a friend of mine was part of the NATO organizing group and felt let down, not so much Trump, as it was a relief not to have to deal with him, but that the US didn’t pay the event the honor it deserved.
Leto
@Cheryl from Maryland: My wife and I wear poppy pins. They’re still very much a thing in the UK, but we’ve found it to be less so back here in the states.
Avalune
I’m sporting my poppy pin from the UK today! I also have my AF Retired pin. Did the blue dress with the red and white striped scarf to be excessive. :D
Thank you for your service all you Jackal Vets.
raven
We went to the mountains.
BroD
As a vet, all I ask is help in getting out the vote next year.
RAVEN
@Leto:
Leto
@RAVEN: Thanks for sharing that :)
Raven
@Leto: She was a homegirl!