I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands.

He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away from his family, surrounded by nothing but death and the carnage of war.

He stands tough, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath. He looks at us in anger and disgust and tells us this...

I gave you the birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your children graduate too illiterate to read it.

I fought in the snow barefoot to give you the freedom to vote and you stay home because it rains.

I left my family destitute to give you freedom of speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad for business.

I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has stolen democracy from the people.

It's the soldier not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.

It's the soldier not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.

It's the soldier not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.

It's the soldier who saluates the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!!!

After you read this, please remember all the soldiers of our country's past. From Valley Forge, to the Alamo. From Gettysburg, to San Juan Hill. From the Argonne Forest, to Normandy. Korea, Viet Nam and the deserts of Iraq.

No matter what you call them. Soldier, Sailor, Air Men or Marine they all have protected this nation at out time of need. Please stop for one minute to say a small prayer for our troops in Afghanistan and the ones who face deployment in Iraq. Of all the gifts to give a soldier, a prayer is the best one.