As the proud wife of a USMC Sgt. Major (retired), a step-mom to U.S. Army Sgt. Patrick Tainsh -- Bronze and Silver Star recipient, KIA, Baghdad, 2/11/04 -- and author of Heart of a Hawk: One family's sacrifice and journey toward healing, I struggle not to become angry, only more heartbroken.

At a recent book signing after a lady learned of my book's non-fiction subject matter, she said, “I don't read true stories. There's too much to digest in the real world.” I could only respond, “I understand,” as I've said to others, and remembered other parents of America's fallen heroes who have told me, “It only took a few weeks after my child's funeral for those who I thought were best friends to disappear into the woodwork because they didn't want to continue hearing my stories about my child or grief.” This is where the pain truly begins, when those who our sons and daughters defend depart for more comfortable ground because they can't bear to feel or observe that which our heroic, grieving military families experience.

Although a military family's grief is no more or less than that of civilians who lose loved ones to accidents, disease, or drugs, the military family's burden seems heavier because our loved ones die while serving and protecting a nation where a great many seem nonchalant and have little respect for those who, on their behalf, serve and die (whether in training or on a battlefield). Our nation's military and their families deserve for the people of this country to remove their heads from their self-centered worlds and show open support for the men, women, and families who sacrifice so the U.S. population can continue enjoying their free spirited, uncensored love of baseball, football, peanuts, and apple pie.

Living in the south -- NASCAR country -- I am annoyed with vehicles carrying the number ‘3' in memory of a deceased race car driver, and the abundant display of college and professional ball team flags and license plates. I'm annoyed that more Americans give reverence to sports heroes, nature lovers, and fiction than the lives and stories of those who have served and sacrificed to provide daily frivolous life joys and freedoms.

I worked in corporate America for over twenty-five years where today's employees and customers are numbers, profits are the bottom line, back stabbing goes on to reach the top, employees are easily dispensable, and purpose equals the stock holders' pockets with small pay for employees. Yet employees of corporate America yearn for recognition and gratitude for performing jobs they often find meaningless. So I ask, if corporate America believes they deserve thanks and recognition for making a profit line increase, what do they believe the United States Armed Forces and families deserve for keeping their very lives and way of life safe?

Many like the lady in the book store don't want to read a book like mine -- a true story of an American family that has given all on behalf of others. It's too difficult to face the pain and tears it costs to keep safe the country where they live, laugh, and prosper. And now it seems the multitudes don't want to remember 9-11 and the cost to families to keep it from happening again.

I was heartbroken on September 11, 2006 when, after a speaking engagement, I went through three airports -- Orange County, Denver, and Atlanta -- where other than myself wearing a stars and stripes scarf and eagle pin from Arlington, I saw only one other person wearing any remembrance or patriotic symbolism. I was honored when an airline attendant in Orange County told me how nice it was to see someone exhibiting patriotism. I told her that every day was patriotic for me and my family, that I had a friend whose Navy son died in the Pentagon on 9/11, his body never recovered, and my family had given a son in Iraq, and we knew many others who'd done the same in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lady gave me a hug, and before I exited the plane in Denver, she announced there was a special mom on board, told my story, and asked passengers not to forget. I was grateful to her.

And there are those such as renowned editor Andrew Carroll who I recently met at the Atlanta History Center. A man I publicly thanked for his believing so much in the importance of the first hand stories of America's service men, women, and their families that he headed a project for the National Endowment for the Arts which produced the recently released: Operation Homecoming.

Although I have lived and written my own family's story of military service and sacrifice, I read Operation Home Coming even though it re-broke my heart and created more tears. I suffered the stories of brave men and women because I believe I must never forget the service and sacrifice others make on my family's behalf.

I'm sure Andy's book will far exceed my book, Heart of a Hawk, in sales and national literary acclaim, because I am just a simple unknown proud Marine's wife and fallen hero's mom. But I learned from Andy that Operation Homecoming and Heart of a Hawk do have another common thread. After a journalist spoke with Andy Carroll about Operation Homecoming and learned there were no Abu Ghraib revelations or other “trash” he didn't feel the book “news worthy.” Something I've heard again and again.

No, multitudes outside the wire of military service and sacrifice don't want to hear or read our stories. They don't have the strength or courage to face and survive what we do, nor will they ever know the honor and pride, or the bond that military families and veterans know -- to the core of our souls -- because like the woman in the book store, they can't digest our non-fiction world of service and sacrifice that provides their “taken for granted” daily way of life.