It’s safe to say it’s almost impossible—if not completely impossible—for someone to live in the United States and not know someone personally who is serving, or has served, in one of the branches of our Armed Forces. Now this doesn’t have to be an immediate family member, but in a lot of cases it is. It could easily be your uncle, a cousin or even your niece or nephew that is serving today. Or it could simply just be your neighbor who recently left his family behind to go serve overseas, which constantly reminds you there are brave men and women who sacrifice a lot to protect our freedoms.

The military is the backbone of our country. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the selfless actions of our servicemen and women. Deciding to give up a more traditional life and put yourself in harm’s way to protect your friends, family, and millions of people you’ve never met takes a rare dedication.

Our annual “Salute The Troops” edition originally started with our July 2014 issue and it’s something we look forward to as a staff every year. We got the idea to do the special feature when we started noticing a trend or pattern in some of the emails and messages we were receiving. A number of the messages coming in were from soldiers who were looking for ideas about what they could do to modify their diesel trucks when they return home to the states.

One soldier told me that copies of our magazine are constantly being passed around and he was thankful to us for providing a resource to inspire his own build ideas. We inspire him? Those words just didn’t seem right because it’s we who are safe in our homes who are inspired by their efforts.

This issue is dedicated to those currently serving who have boxes of parts waiting for them in their garage right now and are patiently waiting for their tour to be done so they can get started. And chances are good they’ll be calling up the guys they’re serving with right now to help them when the time comes. This issue is also for those brave men and women who have served our great country and we want to recognize your sacrifices as well.

We picked this month because after all, this is the time of year when we celebrate America’s birthday. Of course we all know and recognize that we shouldn’t be thinking about our great country and the freedoms we enjoy only one month out of the year; rather, we should always be thinking of our soldiers and praying for them to return home safely.

However or whenever they served, let’s honor the ones who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. We Salute You!

If you would like to nominate someone for our July 2022 issue who has served in our Armed Forces and also enjoys the diesel pickup lifestyle, we’d love to hear from you. Send an email to blk@dieseltechmag.com and we’d be honored to recognize them for their service.