To all the men and women in the armed forces, thank you.

Whether or not we support our current foreign policy or the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, we must support our troops. These citizens are the people making sacrifices to defend our constitutional freedoms and securities. They fight both in America and overseas. They give up their time, and sometimes their lives, for us.

Regardless of the causes of war, the armed forces is a group of heroic people who need our support, especially now.

One of Champaign’s own army sergeants died last week from injuries sustained when a bomb went off near his vehicle in Afghanistan. On Monday, 14 Americans were killed in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan. To top that off, recent bombings in Iraq have been the deadliest since 2007. Despite the ever-increasing death toll, many of us may have forgotten or simply overlooked the fact that these wars are still going on everyday.

Sometimes the wars our troops are fighting can have somewhat of an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ feeling, leading many to forget that while we are safe at home, there are men and women fighting for our freedom. Even some University students are military veterans.

A recent CNN poll found that support for the troops is at an all-time low. Maybe it’s because many people feel the war is too remote, maybe it’s because the war in Afghanistan has been going on for eight years and people are growing tired of it, or because people don’t support the war in general.

Regardless of the politics of the war, the troops need our support. Day in and day out, they put their lives on the line; they selflessly defend our freedoms and our lives, and the least we can do is thank them and let them know that we appreciate their dedication and their work.

As the troops are concerned with our welfare, we should also be concerned with theirs.

We urge you to thank those you know who have or are planning to serve the United States.

Those brave men and women are our support system and, most importantly, we should be theirs.