A friend recently asked me where I was from. I said, New Hampshire. He seemed puzzled, so I told him what that meant.

I said, the people of New Hampshire are tough but kind, frugal but generous, honest, hard-working, and dedicated to our nation, and you better love the Patriots, Bruins, Red Sox, and Celtics or find another place to have a beer. He laughed and said I sounded proud. I said I am.

Four years after I graduated from Manchester West in the patriotic class of 1976, I joined the Air Force. Over the next 29 years, I was honored to serve with the greatest soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen the world has ever seen, living in 13 states and with duty in 75 countries. I retired as a brigadier general, grateful for every day I was privileged to serve my nation.

My service with so many great Americans in uniform affirmed what I learned growing up in New Hampshire. That character, based on integrity, human decency, physical and moral courage, and hard work is the foundation of sustained servant leadership. It is what our Constitution demands of our elected leaders, and it is what you and your children deserve.

The values that are found from Coos to Rockingham and from Grafton to Strafford and all counties in between, are the values that make New Hampshire citizens so similar to those who have served, fought, and died in uniform for our freedom. These values are the essence of character, and they have guided American servicemen and servicewomen in war and peace, around the world for decades.

Of values and character, our own native son, Daniel Webster said, What a man does for others, not what they do for him, gives him immortality. President Teddy Roosevelt said, Character is, in the long run, the decisive factor in the life of individuals and of nations alike. Vice President Joe Biden counseled, The American presidency is an office of immense power. That is why character matters. And President Eisenhower said, A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Today, we are confronted with a growing gap between our values and the values of our elected leaders. For example, we value the American flag not as a prop or as a possession to be hugged; we value it as the symbol of our freedom. We all know people who have buried friends under that draped flag. I have done that. The people of New Hampshire understand what that means.

Likewise, the American people do not want to fall in love with a dictator who threatens our nation. The men and women I served with would never abandon Kurdish partners on battlefields, show disinterest in the possible release of ISIS prisoners into the heart of our European allies, or ignore intelligence that the Russians were paying bounties to Taliban fighters who kill our servicemen and servicewomen. These bounties may have targeted the moms, dads, brothers, sisters, and children of New Hampshire, and no one who shares New Hampshire values would ever let that stand.

I understand the people of New Hampshire want results. Some say that is what we are getting today. But are we really? Did Mexico pay for the wall or did you? Are North Korea, Iran, or Syria more stable? Is your health care fixed? Is the opioid crisis resolved? Are you and your neighbors really being led through this pandemic, or abandoned? To quote President Ronald Reagan, Are you better off than you were four years ago?

I hope every American citizen exercises his or her right to vote. Many sons and daughters of New Hampshire have shed blood for that right. I also hope that when that vote is cast, it is done with our values in mind. We are tough but kind, frugal but generous, honest, hard-working, and dedicated to our nation. That is why I will forever be proud to be from New Hampshire.

(Dan Woodward is a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He grew up in New Hampshire.)

More here:

My Turn: The New Hampshire qualities a president must have - Concord Monitor