Veterans Day

 Just as I came up to my desk, I heard the tail-end of what I can only call a "rant" by a "spokesperson" for veterans--and no, I didn't get his name--on MSNBC, decrying the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August.

He made several claims--without offering proof--that the Taliban are hunting down and executing Afghans who worked with the US and allied forces. He said veterans were ashamed of the way these allies were "abandoned" by our government--again, without offering any examples of this attitude being expressed, except by himself. 

He concluded that "veterans are not celebrating today," because of this decision by the Biden adminstration. I would bet a lot of veterans are celebrating--celebrating that no more American lives will be lost in an unwinnable conflict, celebrating that so many of their brothers and sisters came home alive and will not have to go back, celebrating that our government at last came to its senses about the appropriate way to combat terrorism.

A Better Way to Honor Veterans

 My father was a Navy SeaBee in WW2; Jill's dad was a career Army officer; we have a niece who graduated from West Point and served in Iraq.

But still I am bothered by the militarism that surrounds Veterans Day...why must our remembrance of these men and women be marked by parades in uniform and military equipment rolling on our streets? Why is this not a day for quiet contemplation of the sacrifices they made and the service they performed? Why not prayer services and graveside visits? Why not an equal emphasis on all the non-belligerent service they have given? Most of our astronauts have been members of the military. National Guard and reservists assist in disasters and emergencies. Coast Guardsmen perform literally hundreds of rescues every year. Why is the honor given for those services not equal to that given in war?

After all, the date we have chosen for this remembrance is the end of "the war to end all wars"--as vain as that hope might have been. Shouldn't we be honoring the service of these men and women with a solemn promise that no future generation will have to add to their ranks?