Los Angeles National Cemetery
As a veteran who did not serve in combat, I appreciate it when someone thanks me for my military service, but I get even more pleasure when I thank a veteran who did. As I have said many times, I spent three years in the US Army from 1966-68 stationed in Germany during the Vietnam war. I have also written periodically about two of my high school chums who died in Vietnam-both before their twenty-first birthdays.
It is worthwhile to remember that this date was chosen for Veterans Day because it was the date of the armistice that ended the fighting in World War 1. In my view, this was a senseless war fought because the arch duke of Austria, Prince Ferdinand, and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist. Because of entangling alliances, one declaration of war followed another until most all of Europe was involved. Millions died in the trenches until finally the Treaty of Versailles resulted in putting all of the blame on Germany. That set off another chain of events that resulted in Hitler coming to power, and the end result was World War II even worse that the Great War itself and a war we had to fight for our very survival.
Whether we agree or disagree with America's subsequent wars in Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait,
Afghanistan and Iraq, we must remember that the soldiers don't choose what wars to enter; the politicians do. It is they who are judged by history. With few exceptions, our soldiers have performed bravely and honorably. Some have survived. Others have not. Still others have survived but brought home physical and psychological scars that they carry for the rest of their lives. They need our respect, but also our support. Today should be an inspiration to clean up the mess that exists in our Veterans Administration and make sure it serves the health needs of our veterans.
Thank you for your service to our country.
3 comments:
Well said Gary.
Of course, if the U.S. had stayed out of WW I, we would not have subsidized the creation of the vacuum into which Hitler moved. And, if we had stayed out of Iraq in 2003, we would not have created the vacuum into which ISIS moved.
Sometimes we have to be prepared to fight for real the unfortunate results of going into situations we shouldn't have been in. Always, the front line soldiers pay the price.
(This is also a day to remember Gary's observation that John Kerry ranks him, because John Kerry did fight honorably in combat.)
By that logic, it would then appear that Gary ranks Sialyis, who did not serve in ANY capacity, no??
Its Gary's own ranking elwood, and he can rank the world in his own mind any way he wants, and share it with the rest of us.
How do you rank?
Here's what I think. I turned 19 the first year that nobody was drafted. I was relieved, because I had concluded that I could not enlist in the armed forces while America was engaged in a brutal invasion of Vietnam to prop up an American created "government" that spent most of its time skimming American funds and letting Americans fight the war because, after all, it was the Americans' idea. I don't know if I would have gone to prison over it, but I did not respect the option of running off to Canada.
With 20/20 hindsight, I see a lot of merit to selective service, not because the government is right, but because there was a better chance that those who agitated for war would actually have to send their sons to serve, instead of letting someone else's son go. (Dick Cheney's give draft deferments and his facile remark "I had better things to do" shows that selective service could have been much better, but it did up the odds that some fortunate sons might have to go too.)
Those who did serve did so on behalf of all of us, whether they were drafted or volunteered, whether it was a good idea or a bad idea to send them where they were sent. And, probably I would have been a better citizen if we all rotated through military training at some point -- but without complicity in some of the misguided adventures our government was engrossed in.
Not sure how to write that into law.
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