By Jeff Orvis
This week we paused to observe
Memorial Day. A day that is generally meant to remember sacrifices of
members of our armed forces over the years has been expanded to
include a time to remember anyone of our friends or relatives who
have passed away. It's a great time of year for florists, butchers
and those that sell charcoal and outdoor grills.
One of the most memorable recent
traditions of the day occurs in Washington, D.C. An outdoor program
of music and remembrances honors our fighting forces. Honored guests
are usually several hundred ambulatory victims of our most recent
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a dwindling number of
veterans of World War II and the Korean War.
I'll admit that over the years my view
of the military has mellowed. Forty-five years ago, as I was
finishing my last couple of years in high school, this country was
wrapped up in a war in Southeast Asia that would ultimately result in
our instituting a draft and a lottery. If your number was low and you
were fit, you got the call. For a time, if you were in college, you
were given a deferment. But as our involvement in what would
eventually be a losing cause required more fighting forces, the rules
for potential draftees changed.
As I recall, first I was given a 4F
designation. They didn't want someone who was legally blind in one
eye and hopelessly uncoordinated. Then my birthday was a high lottery
number and I was enrolled in college.
There were several communities around
this country who were hit hard by the Vietnam War. Several members of
graduating classes weren't alive for their five-year reunions.
Very
few of my classmates went into the military out of high school. We
were only personally grazed the the conflict in comparison to some of
those other communities around the nation. I did attend the funeral
of the older brother of a guy who played in our high school band. The
young man was killed in the war and received full military honors
after a mile-long caravan from the funeral home to the cemetery.
The memories of that time are once
again fresh as some of our recent high school grads have decided to
enter the service. Some of them are enlisting because of the
educational benefits available. Some view it as a steady paycheck,
either for the length of their initial enlistment obligation or as a
career. Still others realize they need the discipline and direction
they will receive in the military.
The military would like you to believe
that most enlistees raise their hands to fight for the oppressed and
to fight off the terror threat. I'm sure that many young soldiers and
sailors may enlist for some of the prior reasons listed and
eventually adopt the realization that they can make a difference in
the lives of the citizens of the countries where they are sent to
fight.
Our town has had some extraordinary
examples of those who have opted to enter the military. One young man
who was an outstanding high school wrestler came home on leave
shortly after Marine basic training. I asked him how it was and he
shrugged and said it was no tougher than high school wrestling
practice. Another young man, an outstanding high school athlete, was
chosen for the presidential Marine honor guard. But he reportedly
complained that he didn't go through all that intense training to set
up folding chairs for White House functions and he eventually became
a specialist in defusing roadside bombs in war zones.
From a purely political standpoint,
there are some alarming comparisons between the Vietnam era and
today. We left Southeast Asia without any kind of victory and Vietnam
eventually was taken by the Communists. We have generally pulled out
of Iraq and there is still plenty of fighting going on there, with
the possibility that it will result in civil war. We are preparing to
leave Afghanistan. But the unstable government, the culture and the
rugged terrain means there will probably be no clear-cut victory when
we leave.
We live in a results-driven society.
When we invest time and money in something, we want immediate
results. I'm afraid we didn't see any positive results from Vietnam
and we won't from our over 10 years of war in the Middle East, other
than the elimination of some terror cells. But we have the reminder
of the thousands of lives lost, the tens of thousands who sustained
permanent injury and the billions of dollars poured into the effort.
So what is the point of spending at
least part of our Monday day off this week attending military
services or watching the production on TV? I couldn't answer that 45
years ago. But maybe these years have given me the wisdom to say now
that it's a time to thank those who decide to take the oath. Not so
they can go off to fight in some small country that we may never see,
but so that they can be ready if there is ever a direct threat to
this country.
The rebel side of me hopes that as we
pause to thank our military, we can best support them by making sure
that they receive all of the physical and mental treatment they need
when they return from the war. We should also honor them by
questioning our leaders as they embark on future military actions
across the globe. History shows that neither political party has been
immune to mistakes made by our leaders that prolonged our involvement
in a lot of armed conflicts.
Maybe every time we hear “The Battle
Hymn of the Republic” we should also quietly sing “All We Are
Saying is Give Peace a Chance.”
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