Today is Veterans Day — a time to remember and recognize those who have made sacrifices, including the ultimate one, for their country.

From America's beginnings we have had veterans. After the devastation of World War I, a day to commemorate their service, then called Armistice Day, was established in November 1919.

One local 12-year-old student Laura Roeder celebrates her birthday on Nov. 11, so she has a special connection to the day. Laura is the daughter of The Gazette's senior military reporter, Tom Roeder, so she's no stranger to the significant contributions the military makes to our community. For a school project, she wrote about what veterans mean to her.

We thought we'd share some of Laura's insights and excerpts of interviews she did with several veterans:

I was born two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, she writes, and have known that people were fighting all of my life. But, what I found in interviewing veterans surprised me.

There's something so deep in their dedication that I never suspected. We need to remember veterans not for the work they did, but for why they did it. And America needs to know that their patriotism, love of home and country is something everlasting.

It's a pledge they made long before I was born that leads them still. And they remain willing to pick up a rifle and join people not much older than me in defending our country and what it stands for.

Age doesn't seem to matter, or the difficulties that come with it. There's something special about these people that drives them toward service, even though that path was set for some of them through the draft.

"I loved it," said Tom Hord, who served in an artillery unit of the Texas National Guard in 1972. His only regret, he said, was not serving in Vietnam when so many of his friends died there.

So what is in these veterans? What makes them want to return to a life that could see them dead or wounded on the fields of Afghanistan today?

Laura talked with one vet, about what today should mean to us:

Air Force Academy Col. Marty France said Veterans Day should be a wake-up call for young people.

"Kids should recognize veterans because they might fill their shoes or at least be willing to at a time of crisis," he said.

Army Lt. Col. Michael Hatfield, who commands a missile defense battalion in Alaska, said remembering veterans is remembering the living history of America.

"They are a direct link to history," he said. "When you talk to them, you find out about culture, countries, and America in a different point of view."

Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Kate Rust, who served in Iraq, said people also need to know the price these veterans have paid.

"Kids should remember veterans because serving is not an easy life and not appreciating them is like saying you don't count," she said. "You see stuff that changes you forever."

Laura's final words show an amazing amount of insight for someone so young:

It's a gift to America's future that can never be repaid, but must be remembered, said Army Col. Steve Stover, an Iraq veteran.

"Because they made the ultimate sacrifice," he said.

So as you remember our nation's military today, try to have the depth of understanding that this young writer does about the meaning of Veterans Day.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE