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• For all those lost and all those still fighting

It's not too late to pay them tribute

M ilitary history is fascinating, albeit more to some than to others. For a handful of Americans, it's not enough to read about Bunker Hill or Bull Run or the Battle of the Bulge. They need to get out in the mud and shoulder a musket while wearing authentically scratchy woolen underpants and feel what it was like to be there when the hot lead flew. Bully for them. It's not my bag.

Still, the war reenacting hobby seems a little less quaint and eccentric when the war in question is a living memory -- a never-ending trauma, in some cases -- for tens of thousands of soldiers who had to fight it.

Last week, Genaro C. Armas of the Associated Press wrote a widely circulated feature story on Vietnam reenactors, and it didn't take long before veterans reacted. Something bothered them, and it wasn't necessarily the reenacting. Vietnam veterans far too often feel they have never been thanked for their service, much less been given the proper help for injuries and ailments they sustained in that service.

Homestead Air Show was a huge success

The Wings over Homestead Air Show was spectacular in every way.

Although the base had not hosted an air show for 17 years, this year's show was extremely well organized.

The crowds were very large, but the base was well prepared and the public was treated politely and professionally while security was maintained.

Despite prevention efforts, U.S. military suicides rise

WASHINGTON — Eight years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have etched indelible scars on the psyches of many of the nation's servicemen and women, and the U.S. military is losing a battle to stem an epidemic of suicides in its ranks.

Despite calls by top Pentagon officials for a sea change in attitudes about mental health, millions of dollars in new suicide prevention programming and thousands of hours spent helping soldiers suffering from what often are euphemistically dubbed "invisible wounds," the military is losing ground.

The Department of Defense Friday reported that there were 160 reported active-duty Army suicides in 2009, up from 140 in 2008. Of these, 114 have been confirmed, while the manner of death in the remaining 46 remains to be determined.

Show your appreciation to our troops

N ov. 11 is a day to celebrate all generations of veterans and their families. It's an opportunity to honor grandfathers and grandmothers, moms and dads, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and battle buddies as our American family recognizes those who put their lives at risk and, in many instances, suffered life-changing injuries for our freedoms.

We will celebrate them all: Those few left who fought the ``Great War'' of World War I, the ``Greatest Generation'' of World War II, our heroes of the Vietnam, Korean and Gulf wars and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And let's not forget all the veterans who served in peace time and those who placed themselves into harm's way in answering our country's call in the numerous other, sometimes forgotten, conflicts.

Together, all generations of veterans as a group represent our nation's indelible commitment to sustaining and advancing freedom and democracy.

Obama wins presidency; Democrats widen majority in Congress

WASHINGTON — Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, swept to victory by an anxious country eager to change course at home and abroad.

Obama, 47, becomes the first African-American in U.S. history to win the presidency and the first from the generation that came of age after the turbulence of the 1960s.

His win suggested a new political order in the making. He drew masses of young people to politics for the first time. His biracial heritage reflected the changing demographic face of America. His mastery of the Internet matched the rise of a new information age. And his push into formerly Republican states in the South, Midwest and West marked a new political landscape possibly emerging.