A sincere salute to all the American men and women who serve or have served in the U.S. military. Way too many of those men and women made the ultimate sacrifice.

In World War I, we lost 116,516 Americans. In World War II, 405,399. In Korea, 36,516; in Vietnam, 58,220; in the Gulf War, 294. And 7,061 so far in the the War on Terror. Thus, a total of 624,000 American men and women were killed in these six wars by foreign enemies so that we fortunate Americans would remain free and not speak a foreign language.

Today, Americans fight a war with a lethal, more sinister enemy — one that doesn’t use conventional bullets or bombs. Our new enemy, COVID, uses a sneaky, deadly and silent viral bullet. Covid has already killed more Americans (More than 639,000 and counting) than the 624,000 brave soldiers we lost in the last six wars combined.

In China, if the government said you were to get a vaccine or wear a mask you would do so. Fortunately, we live in America. I have a friend who initially didn’t take the vaccine because he wasn’t sure what was in it. That amazed me since the man has eaten more hot dogs than Joey Chestnut. Yet he is worried about what’s in the vaccine?

Another friend doesn’t wear a mask because he feels they are totally useless. Based on his recent surgery, he feels the reason surgeons and nurses wear masks while operating is not to reduce the transfer of germs. His theory, “The Hold Up Theory,”‘ claims that they wore their masks while operating on him so when he got the hospital bill he wouldn’t be able to identify the robbers who held him up during his surgery.

Personally, I don’t know what all is in hot dogs, the vaccine or the total effectiveness of masks. And who would want to wear a mask except on Halloween? But study after study has shown that vaccines and masks can help in our war on COVID. In one comprehensive study, Dr. Sharon Balter researched over 40,000 COVID infections between May 1 and July 25. Balter found the rate of infection in unvaccinated Americans to be five times the rate of those vaccinated.

Whether one gets vaccinated and wears a mask or not, COVID is the latest war for us Americans to beat. Many Americans feel a sense of patriotism by getting vaccinated and wearing those uncomfortable, obnoxious masks in order to possibly prevent or reduce COVID’s impact on their family, friends and fellow Americans.

— Frank Eason

Salisbury