For Veterans Day: yes, even the Key Grip Matters!

Okay, show of hands. Who sits through the credits at movies? And no, you AREN’T allowed to count the Marvel super hero flicks where you know there’s a bonus scene at the end of the saga-length lists, either. (Or even an extra long, slow-motion, shampoo-commercial-worthy head flip from Chris Hemsworth, either...grrrrr....)

I’ll be honest. I’m one of those dweebs who really does like to sit there sometimes, gazing ALL those names going by, and say to myself, “Wow, there were FIVE Key Grips on this movie!” (Uhhh, if anyone DOES know what a Key Grip does, please respond…I’d love to know myself…) It really blows my mind to see just how many team players it takes to create two hours of creative magic.

Now take this idea, and apply it to a military base that has to function like its own city in a foreign land. Or an aircraft carrier that has to do the same thing on WATER. Or a command post that has to do it in the middle of a jungle, a desert, a third-world village, even on an iceberg. To us, all these things may sound as foreign as making a movie. To the amazing men and women of our military forces, this is “another day on the job.”

As we take this day to reflect on our gratitude for our service men and women—and to be honest, why limit this to just a day?—I’ll admit that I often make the mistake so many of us do, that we assume our country is represented, protected and cared for only by those guys we see in the movies. Don’t get me wrong; our front-line fighters are the best, brightest and most bad-ass warriors on the planet…but they wouldn’t have the strength to take down those bad guys without a cook who got up at the crack of ass to make their eggs that day. The helicopter that exfils them from the op would fall out of the sky without technicians, mechanics and nerves-of-steel pilots to keep that bird running right and guided back to safety. Their families back at home rely every day on people who get their paychecks filed right, their kids’ teeth fixed, their base running smoothly, and all the other details they don’t have to worry about so they can focus on THEIR job: keeping their country safe.

When you think of our proud veterans on this extremely important holiday, remember that it takes a team—a HUGE one—to make collective sacrifices for us all. Some of those tasks in the effort are the ones you see in pictures and glorified in movies. But MANY of them are the thankless jobs you won’t ever hear about…the “Key Grip #3”’s of the armed forces. THEY are heroes, too. They’ve equally given up the comforts of being at home in order to serve our country. And they all deserve to be thanked, too.

This blog post is part of a really cool Blog Hop that’s being sponsored by the VERY awesome ROMANCE CRUSH JUNKIES E-ZINE. You can check out the RCJE goddesses, right here!  Be sure to click through to the hop here, so you can check out the other VERY awesome writers who are participating in our week-long celebration of our nation’s proud Vets.

As a part of the celebration, we are also all doing giveaways. I’ve chosen to do mine a bit differently. If you’d like, please respond to this blog to be “entered” in my giveaway. If you cannot respond to the blog, you can pop me an e-mail at: Angelpaynewrites(at)gmail(dot)com.

The deal is: my “prize” will be a $30 donation to the Disabled American Veterans organization.These fine folks are currently helping over 20,000 veterans and their dependents with a multitude of extremely vital services. To find out more about the DAV, look here.

THANK YOU again to the amazing, selfless, brilliant men and women who serve our country each and every day. We are proud of you!