Posted on: Tuesday, November 11, 2003

EDITORIAL
Veterans Day marked in times of great peril

In quieter times, Veterans Day usually adds up to a parade or two, a graveyard service and a day off to spend time with the family.

But these are hardly quiet times. Veterans Day this year brings with it particularly sharp awareness of the dangers faced by our uniformed men and women in Afghanistan, Iraq and other trouble spots around the world.

At home, we will use the holiday to relax. But overseas, Veterans Day will be no different as the difficult and dangerous work of rebuilding and stabilizing those nations continues as usual.

The war on terrorism may differ in many ways from previous wars whose veterans we honor today. But it does not differ in this fundamental way: In defense of our security and safety, brave men and women place themselves in harm's way.

At home, we can honor those now in active service as we honor the veterans who have finished their service.

In Washington, the Senate could make this a special Veterans Day week by quickly approving a new $401 billion military spending bill that includes long-overdue improvements in benefits for veterans.

Among the changes, a pay raise for troops, a reduction in amounts that service members must pay for housing, and reduction (or in some versions outright elimination) of taxes on disability benefits.

These changes, however small they might appear in the context of the overall spending bill, are concrete symbols of a nation's gratitude for the service of those now on active duty and those who went before.