It’s not everyday that you get to rub elbows with some of the most courageous Americans alive, but that’s what happened to me the other day when my daughter Ashley and I visited our wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

This is the second time I’ve been there, and after I leave I am utterly uplifted by the experience. After being among these splendid men and women I realize that my worst day will never be anywhere near as bad as some of the worst days these badly wounded warriors went through while battling for freedom in a foreign land, and in the aftermath that has left them terribly disabled.

When I have a bad day, I whimper, I cry, I wimp out — I complain about the unfairness of it all. But these Americans to whom fate has dealt the cruelest of blows remain upbeat, are getting on with their lives and actually looking forward to getting back to their units — or if that is no longer possible, going home to be with their families and getting on with their lives.

When you sit there and listen to their recollections of the horrors they’ve endured in behalf of their country you begin to understand that nothing you have gone through even begins to equal their ordeals.

Their upbeat attitude, in spite of some of the most terrible wounds imaginable, is a lesson in the real meaning of courage and selflessness.

As you move among them and see a warrior who has lost a leg or an arm, you find yourself astounded to be thinking that that man or woman is lucky.

One young man I saw had lost the entire lower part of his body, yet when I approached him he literally jumped up, by pushing on his arms. And he was smiling and thanked me for coming by. There was no self-pity. He was filled with plans for the future, and spoke of going back to school and getting a college degree and having a career in communications.

As he spoke I wondered just how I would be if I were in his situation — and I doubt that I would have that kind of optimism and the guts to face the future with confidence that I could overcome such a terrible disability and face the future with determination.

If you want to begin to appreciate what your fellow Americans in uniform are doing for you and your freedom, when you come to Washington go out to Walter Reed and visit these heroes to whom we owe so

much. You’ll be filled with awe and wonderment, as I was.

Mike Reagan, the eldest son of the late President Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network.