DALLAS- Freedom is not free – it comes at incredible cost. Throughout our nation’s history, whenever our country is attacked or when enemies of freedom threaten peace in our world, American men and women in uniform answer the call to defend us.  They go into harm’s way so that we can enjoy the blessings of freedom, peace and prosperity.

As a member of the United States House of Representatives, occasionally people will thank me for my sacrifice. I will accept thanks for service but I will not accept gratitude for sacrifice. I have sacrificed nothing for my nation. The men and women who wear our nation’s uniform- they have sacrificed. I have never had a shot fired at me in anger. I’ve been away from my family maybe five days at a time.

 I particularly think of one of my colleagues, Congressman Sam Johnson, a great American hero who didn’t see his family for 7 years as a “guest” of the North Vietnamese. In Sam’s book, “Captive Warriors,” he writes about a phrase found scribbled onto the walls of his cell: “Freedom has a taste to those who fight and almost die that the protected will never know.” I am one of the protected, and many of the protected are reading these words.

One of the greatest honors I have as a Congressman is helping honor our veterans. Few opportunities are more meaningful to me than those, whether it is obtaining long overdue medals for a hero of WWII, securing VA benefits for a struggling veteran of Korea or Vietnam, or paying tribute to the life of a soldier that was cut short defending freedom in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Recently I was honored to speak at a deployment ceremony for an Army Reserve unit embarking on a 400-plus day mission to Afghanistan.  I was reminded not only of the enormous sacrifice of those who were set to deploy, but also the sacrifice of the wives, husbands, sons, daughters and parents who were about to send their loved ones into harm’s way.  Our military is strengthened by the love and support of their families.  We have a civic responsibility to support those keeping the home fires burning while their loved ones are defending us.

As the son, grandson and brother of veterans, I have and will continue to fight for our nation’s soldiers and military veterans. As President Calvin Coolidge once said “A nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.”  I am committed to making sure we never forget.

NOTE: If you have issues pending with a branch of the Armed Forces, the Veterans Administration or any other federal agency and would like Congressman Hensarling’s assistance, please contact his Dallas office at (214) 349-9996.