As Veterans Day approaches, I am reminded that the hardships of military service provided me with the most valuable lessons of civics.

In the days after driving off the battlefields of Iraq, I faced a personal epiphany about the fragility of civilization and the value of our republic. I wish every American understood what I saw; it would change our politics and bring us closer to the hopeful words of Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address, “We are not enemies, but friends.”

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