This weekend we celebrate and honor our dead from all wars, as we should.
But I am bothered by a recent trend, common at least since 9/11--calling our soldiers, sailors and marines "warriors". It seems to suggest--to me, at any rate--that their primary purpose is attack, rather than defend. I much prefer to call them, as we once did, servicemen and servicewomen, because they serve in a variety of ways: defense, protection, rescue, construction, etc.
"Warrior," in my mind, conjures up an image of Sylvester Stallone as Rambo, Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning"), or John Wayne is his worst jingoistic moments. I prefer to think of our servicemen and women as Henry Fonda in Mister Roberts, Harry Morgan in MASH, or even Matthew Broderick and Morgan Freeman in Glory.
I may have more to say on this tomorrow and Monday.
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