Why Research Veterans?

In all reality, Swartz would to like to rephrase this question. Rather than ask "why research veterans?", Swartz would prefer to ask, with much enthusiasm: "why would you NOT want to research veterans!?!"

As one could already see, Swartz has a huge heart for veterans, as does most of his family. For him, his love for veterans is a huge understatement. Within the opening paragraph of Swartz's essay, the reader would immediatley see his passion for these people:

"The American veteran is well and truly the hallmark of what it means to be a hero in modern society (Swartz, 2017, p. 2)."

This is exactly what Swartz believes, and it is his goal to have everyone understand why. These courageous men and women have gone into some of the most dangerous places on earth for us. Veterans are the reason why we as Americans are here today, and why we live in a nation where freedom rings loud. As it is clearly etched into the huge granite walls of the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., "Freedom is not free."

Veterans are an excellent population to research because of how they were able to pay the price of freedom for all of the United States. Time and time again, veterans do not seem to be respected the way they deserve to be. Swartz is on a mission to change that attitude, and it first began with serving through NHS Honor Bus, now this excellent research essay, then his future students will be next. From that point on, Swartz hopes that he inspires all of his peers to respect veterans with gratitude, and as it states in his closing paragraph of the essay:

"The next time anyone finds themselves walking through a grocery store, and they spot a veteran with a hat or a shirt that says they’re a veteran, they should walk up to them, shake their hand, and tell them 'thank you for your service' (Swartz, 2017, p. 8)."