Local Combat Veterans Ask For Courtesy This 4th Of July

The Fourth of July is usually a fun family holiday, but for one Neligh family it's a little different story. 

As combat veterans, Michaela and Ross Potter are asking people to be courteous with fireworks this 4th of July. 

"I was a medic in the military for about six years. I deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010," said Michaela Potter. "This has been a war that's gone on for 14 years now, and there's a growing population of combat vets. So not all of us appreciate that noise."

Potter said a combat vet is a person who has been overseas and deployed, who's been to Iraq, Afghanistan or even Vietnam.

She explained that to combat vets, the fireworks can easily be mistaken for mortar shells and bombs, especially when unexpected.

"It's the unexpected loud bangs. Especially on the Fourth of July, we expect it," she said. "But on the days and weeks before and after, we kind of get caught off guard. And there's an instant anxiety, and you have to kind of check your surroundings and remember where you are and that it's not a bomb because for an entire year, you spent fearing that noise the most."

However, this doesn't keep Potter from having a wonderful holiday with her family.

"This year we'll enjoy the parade here in town, and we're going to head over to Yankton to go camping," she said. "We do light off fireworks and enjoy them on the Fourth of July just like everybody else. It's just the fireworks before and after the Fourth that aren't appreciated as much."

And it doesn't keep Potter from wanting others to enjoy the Fourth of July either.

"Of course, we want everyone to celebrate the Fourth of July. It's an awesome holiday," she said. "But to just remember that some of us, it causes extreme anxiety."

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