Craig Daily Press

As I sit back and think about this past Monday's four-year anniversary of the war in Iraq, I marvel at the dedication, selflessness and love that our soldiers who are fighting this war must have for our great country.

It brings tears to my eyes when I think about the sacrifices that they, their families and friends have made for their country. For many of those soldiers, the sacrifices will be made for the rest of their lives.

These sacrifices give you and I can the rights we have, including the freedom to openly debate this war as a couple of my employees and I did Monday.

All three of us had different opinions on virtually every aspect of the war:

Should we have started this war? Who made the decision to start this war? Where do we go from here with this war?

Even though our tempers flared at times, as if we were making the decision on the future of this war, it was a productive conversation.

No, the people who are in charge of the future of our military actions were not privy to the ideological and strategic planning that were shared during our conversation. U.S. foreign policy will not be shaped based on our opinions.

In fact, not even a soldier was present to hear our viewpoints.

At one point during the conversation I blurted out my opinion that there is no place for "we don't support the war, but we support our soldiers" during discussions such as this one.

As is normal for me, I opened my mouth before I really thought about what I said.

Later in the day, I got to thinking, why did I say such a thing? For many average Americans, maybe that is what is all about.

Whether you support or don't support the war, support your fellow Americans who are in harm's way.

My conversation Monday with a couple of employees won't change the course of world events, it won't reach the halls of power in Washington, D.C.

But it wasn't meaningless or without purpose. What has meaning, what we all agreed on is this: Support our troops. Each and every day, support our troops.