LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Operation Rendezvous will hit the streets in early November. It's a day all of Kentucky and southern Indiana will celebrate our veterans and active military.
Four convoys from both sides of the river will merge in downtown Louisville that afternoon, flooding Jefferson Street with dozens of patriotic displays. And you can bet our National Guard will be there.
WHAS11 News sat down with Maj. Gen. Hal Lamberton, Kentucky’s 53rd adjutant general, who commands the nearly 8,600 military members of the Kentucky Army and Air National Guard. The Atherton High School grad and University of Kentucky alum also oversees the statewide Department of Military Affairs, Kentucky Emergency Management, the Appalachian and Bluegrass Challenge Academies and Bluegrass Station in Avon, Kentucky.
"I've been in the military ever since 1976, so Louisville is my hometown," Lamberton said. "I initially enlisted into the Army right out of high school. Quite simply, I didn't want to go to college at the time, and wanted to do something more adventurous."
He later served in five operational deployments to include service in Honduras, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Germany and Iraq.
"Sincerely, I believe today, right now, we've got the strongest military in the history of the world," he said.
Many of us are used to seeing our National Guard soldiers during natural disasters, like the western Kentucky tornadoes, and the eastern Kentucky floods.
Lamberton says the National Guard used to be considered a 'strategic reserve.' But that's no longer the case.
"They're joining it with a mindset that they are going to deploy; a lot of our folks have deployed multiple times," Lamberton said. "The neat thing is, especially when you see the deployment of a National Guard unit, in rural areas, the entire community comes on out to the see the soldiers off to whatever deployment."
It's a sacrifice by the whole family, all 3 million of them.
"Our country's population is about 330 million people. Less than 1%of that are wearing the uniform," Lamberton said.
We asked him why.
"It's not that there isn't patriotism. It's just they quite simply aren't exposed to it and don't even consider it," he said.
The 2-star general says it's worth considering.
"The profile of being in the Guard is much higher than it was when I first came into it, and so that's what draws a lot of folks to us," Lamberton said. "I've worked in the, in government. I've worked in the civilian world, and part of the military, and I have not seen any other organization that has that team mentality as the military does. And so for that sense of bringing folks together from different backgrounds, for a common mission or focus or purpose, is what keeps them serving. Because they don't get that feeling elsewhere."
If the military isn't for you, Lamberton is quick to remind us all, of how far a simple 'thank you' to a veteran can go.
"Take it a step further and just even ask the person, 'you're a soldier, what do you do in the Army?' Or, 'you're a sailor or an airman, what do you actually do?' Just, you know, showing a little bit of interest in the person," he said.
Help all of our veterans feel appreciated for the parade on Saturday, Nov. 9, at noon in downtown Louisville. If you can't make it there, wave them on, as their convoys depart from four locations. Check out the routes here.
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