This is my first Veteran's Day as a Lieutenant. It's hard for me to believe that I'm an Army Officer working full time to prepare for Iraq. If you want to know what it's like to be a young Lieutenant on the eve of war on Veteran's Day, keep reading.

So many emotions are running through my mind today. I'm scared. Scared that I'll die fighting for something people stopped caring about. I'm lonely. I'm surrounded by people all the time, but I feel completely isolated. I realize that I'm not the only single Army guy (hell, most of us are single once we get back from war) but I feel utterly alone. I feel foolish for believing all the rhetoric about doing the right thing from men who've never done the right thing (how many congressmen are veterans?). I'm proud. When most people are running from terror, I boldly stand my ground. For the rest of my life, Veteran's Day will be a bittersweet irony.

The real irony of Veteran's Day is how we all say "happy Veteran's Day." The process of becoming a veteran isn't a happy one. The process is terrifying. We're all young men constantly thinking about our own mortality. At the very age we're supposed to feel invisible, we feel vulnerable. Instead of saying "happy Veteran's Day"� I have an alternative: do something with your life. There's no happiness in Veteran's day if all the sacrifice was for nothing.

I sincerely hope that I'm making veterans proud.

-2LT Kevin Sykora, US Army