I felt that our veterans and current members of the military deserved a thread today. I hope that folks will join me in wishing them well on this thread.
God Bless those who have & are now serving this great country & all who dwell within her borders.
Veterans Day - a day set aside for a nation to show its gratitude for those who keep the bad guys at bay. The usual parades and speeches, flags and festivals fill the day. Vets from around the republic feel appreciated or do they?
Deep inside, what do vets want? While I can not begin to speak for the millions of veterans in our nation, I can say what I want and what I don't want.
The last thing I want is for some politician, who found his life too busy for full-time service, to speak glowingly about the importance of military service and sacrifice. I think this about covers most of Congress, and our last two presidents. Slinking around behind the Iron Curtain and being sequestered in the Air Guard with the children of other influential families qualifies as "too busy" for service. Spare me the talk and get to the bottom of widespread illnesses that afflict those whom went into harm's way at the behest of those who were "too busy."
Parades are nice, as are memorials, but the greatest tribute one can make to a vet, is to follow in their footsteps. To step up and be counted among those who believe that certain things are greater than our "busy" schedule, is the mark of a grateful individual and a grateful nation.
My grandfathers were born in the '20s, which means they served in WW2. They saw the worst humanity has to offer. They could have had deferments, but they went. My great uncle never came back. They served with the men who cracked the Atlantic Wall, liberated North Africa and France. They were at Okinawa, Leyte Gulf, and in some way, supported the few men that won the greatest naval battle in world history - Midway. Without the efforts of the vets and deceased in that war, the 20th Century would not have been "America's Century." The Soviet Union would have emerged as the greatest power in the late '40s.
How do we show our gratitude? I say the best way is to serve - to stand your watch over our republic, and if harm should come, not to wilt in the face of adversity. That is how we thank our vets.
So, how does a nation, totally dependant on air and sea power, show its gratitude? Do they serve? In a word...
NO.
My church has about 1000 adults in attendance on any given Sunday. This past Sunday, all the veterans were invited to stand and accept the gratitude of the remainder. Less than a dozen stood. Do the math...that's about 1%, which includes those who served in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. If you factor out the airline pilots, no one under 40 is a vet, which is significant with 80% of the church body in their 30s and 40s. Lest anyone think I live in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, or some pot-infested beach town on the West Coast, I live in lily-white suburb just north of Dallas, TX.
It gets worse. My daughter's school has an annual commemoration of all the veterans in the families of the children. Each student writes the name of a vet on a star, and posts them on the wall for all to see. Of the 500+ stars, there were only three of parents of children at the school. The rest were WW2 and Korea vets, with a smattering of Vietnam vets. The school is p-K through 2nd grade, and has about 150 students.
Again, people are just too busy.
What are our vets fighting for? The UN? The blessings of an Arab coalition? The ability of a nation of brainless women who drive around the 'burbs in their Ford Extinctions, shuttling Johnny, Jessica, and Joshua to and from soccer practice, while voting for president based upon how cute a candidate is, or how much he fills the emotional void of an absentee husband who is working 60 hours a week to afford the lifestyle of his bimbo wife? A distraction from newsworthy sexual escapades of a man selling military secrets to our enemies? To be a butt-insky in every civil war on the planet? Sweet crude at $15/bbl?
Is this the agenda of a grateful nation? My guess is that if Johnny, Jessica, and Joshua were serving in the military, their bimbo mom would care about Gulf War syndrome. Congressmen would be called to account for it. My guess is that as kiddies traded soccer cleats for combat boots, we would care if our military secrets were sold to our enemies, and most would tell the UN where to stick it. If OUR children were in the military (rich East Coasters, urbanites, white trash, and middle-class kids), we would allow people around the world to settle their own disputes, and if the price of oil went to $40/bbl, we would find that easier to digest. Perhaps all the 0% financing for the latest Ford Extinction would yield to keeping the van tuned up for another 50K. Perhaps we would be a nation that didn't have troops stationed on every corner of the globe, and we would pressure Congress to defund welfare programs, and modernize our military hardware.
That will never happen as long as most Americans view their military the way the French view their Foreign Legion - expendable "other people."
I do not begrudge any one individual who does not serve. The military cannot accept everyone, and there are those who just should not be trusted with the life of a fellow shipmate, marine, or soldier. I can say that I am disgusted with a nation, and a selfish generation that finds military service is best suited for "someone else." It is the same people that look upon the military as a social experiment (liberal elites), and those who take every opportunity to pontificate on how it should be run, and what rights those in uniform have and don't have (conservative elites), that find their blood and time are too precious to spend in service to a nation that has given so much.
Personally, I stand in awe of what those men accomplished at Midway in June of 1942. It was the greatest American moment of the 20th Century. If I were to walk up to LT Rich Best (he sank 2 carriers at Midway), and express my gratitude, that would be in order. Perhaps he would be more appreciative if those who thank him for giving us the second half of the 20th Century, followed in his footsteps. Deeds speak louder than words.
I find it sad that a nation thanks its vets by being too busy to do what the vets did. I guess the vets are "other people" and we are too good for them.
From a U.S. Army retired "old soldier", Thanks.
Thank you for taking the time, all of you, to remember our Veterans.
As you all know, my father is RANGERAIRBORNE. He must have had the crappiest Veterans' Day on record...he was in surgery.
Anyone who wants to send him a tiny note of thanks at his FReepmail addy would be so much appreciated. He will be healing from the surgery for weeks, but I am sure he will find a way to check on everyone here. ;)
Thank you again.
A very grateful rangersdaughter
