Veterans Day: Honoring Their Service by How We Live Ours
Dear KMMA Family,
Today, on Veterans Day, I want to take a moment to recognize and thank the brave men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces.
To all our veterans, especially those within our KMMA family: Thank you for your service, your sacrifices, and your commitment to something greater than yourselves.
As many of you know, I had the honor of serving in the United States Army, first as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and later as an officer in the 3rd Infantry Division.
My military service changed my life.
I learned invaluable lessons about courage, discipline, leadership, perseverance, and service. But when I reflect on those years, what I remember most fondly isn’t the training, the accomplishments, or even jumping out of perfectly good airplanes!
It’s the people.
The soldiers I served beside. The camaraderie. The friendships. The shared challenges. The knowledge that we could depend on one another.
And the tremendous pride and honor of serving our country as part of a mission greater than ourselves.
I also recognize that so many others sacrificed far more than I did. Some returned home with wounds, visible and invisible. Others never returned home at all.
We owe them, and their families, a debt of gratitude that words alone can never repay.
But I believe there is something more we can do.
One of the greatest ways we can honor those who fought for our freedoms is to make the most of those freedoms.
To live lives of purpose.
To become the best versions of ourselves.
And to use our gifts, talents, and opportunities to serve our families, our communities, our country, and our world.
You see, one of the greatest lessons I learned in the Army is that leadership isn’t about rank or title. Leadership is about service.
And that lesson became one of the foundations of Krav Maga Martial Arts when I founded our academy 26 years ago.
Today, our mission remains to develop confident, competent Blackbelt Leaders.
Not simply students who can earn a black belt around their waist, but young men and women who possess the character, courage, confidence, discipline, and compassion to lead and serve others.
Some of our Blackbelt Leaders may one day serve in the military. Others will become teachers, first responders, entrepreneurs, parents, and leaders in countless other fields.
But wherever life takes them, my hope is that they will carry these principles with them:
Be courageous. Be disciplined. Be trustworthy. Do what’s right. Take care of others. And always remember that you are part of something greater than yourself.
That’s the legacy I want us to build together.
And that’s why I feel so blessed that my opportunity to serve didn’t end when I took off my Army uniform. It continues every day through the families we serve and the leaders we develop at KMMA.
So today, I encourage every member of our KMMA family to take a moment to thank a veteran.
And then, let’s do something even more meaningful.
Let’s honor their sacrifices through the lives we choose to live.
Let’s be better parents, better students, better teammates, better neighbors, and better leaders.
Let’s make the most of the freedoms we’ve been given, and use them to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
May we honor their service by the way we live ours.
God bless our veterans, God bless our KMMA family, and God bless the United States of America!
Hooah and Osu!
Grandmaster Stephen Del Castillo
Founder & CEO
Krav Maga Martial Arts
American Martial Arts & Leadership Academy
U.S. Army Veteran
