JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
The year I turned 18, I voted in my first presidential election. This November's election will be my tenth.
I remember the first one. It was during a time of great turmoil in our country. Recession, unemployment, increasing gas prices and inflation ...
I think I've voted in every presidential election since then. I can't be sure, because I was often overseas or deployed, but I'm pretty sure I mailed in my ballots.
I think one of the reasons I can't remember is because I'm not quite sure my votes made any difference. Thirty-six years after my first election, look at the issues facing us today; recession, unemployment, increasing gas prices and inflation...
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I can give you 101 reasons why I shouldn't vote.
And the picture accompanying this story is the one reason why I should.
For the past decade, America's finest have gone to some miserable places. Many were wounded, many died. Every one of them was changed forever.
Why?
To allow others, like this old Iraqi man pictured here, to cast his vote and dip his finger in a pot of ink. You and your predecessors gave that man something he never thought he could have - a voice.
If you can help give this man and the people of his country the opportunity to vote, I can certainly honor your sacrifice by taking advantage of the very freedom you fought for.
And that's why I'm going to vote this year.