No, these are the good guys!

My husband and I took a little mini vacation up north recently to enjoy the Duluth and Lake Superior. We were disappointed to see that the shipping traffic there is dramatically down from year's past because of the poor economy...When car companies aren't manufacturing as many new cars, they don't need as much steel, and they don't need as many ships to transport steel on the Great Lakes.

But we were blessed to see a U.S. Coast Guard cutter come into port. We watched it when it was far out on the lake, and were so happy to be able to see it up close. As always, along the port in Duluth, a crowd gathered along the dock to watch it come in. A little boy and his mother were close to us, and the little boy kept saying "Mom, look it's a pirate ship!" The third time he said this, his mother told him that it wasn't a pirate ship, but he insisted that it was, and that he could see pirates along the deck. Both my husband and I come from families with war veterans from the various branches of service, including the U.S. Coast Guard. So I finally interjected, saying "No, that's not a pirate ship. It's the good guys. They're ours, and we should all be proud of them!"

Thank you to all of you who have family members serving in our U.S. military. We are forever indebted for your sacrifice.