Saturday, November 11, 2017

Veterans

November 11, 2017

The “Great War.” “War to End All Wars.” That’s how people thought of it at the time, not imagining that within thirty years, the world would be plunged into a conflict that thoroughly eclipsed World War I. In both of those conflicts, our (primarily) men saw less than five years of action. Those years were bloody and horrific, with casualties numbered in the hundreds of thousands, not including the millions of Europeans, Africans, and Asians whose lives were snuffed out in the course of the wars.

We have not declared war since then, but have sent almost continuously our young men and women into harm’s way, often for multiple tours of duty that leave some of our best with physical and emotional trauma that plagues them throughout life. 

I am not a veteran. During Vietnam, the draft was by lottery, and my number was high enough that I was never called. I spent those years in college and seminary, the latter which was thoroughly liberal, with liberalism’s requisite antipathy towards our men and women in uniform. It was a travesty that still haunts many of those who served. My friend Rell, a Vietnam Vet, tells me that I ought to be thankful I never had to go, his response to my recurring feelings of guilt for not having done my part. “You don’t want to know what it was like.” I’m sure he’s right, so I am thankful for not having had to deal with memories that refuse to stay buried. I am thankful also to those who went on my behalf, many of whom never returned to their families, nor had the privilege of growing old. 


Since those years, many more have left home and country, serving with distinction. In my family, a great-great grandfather served in a New York regiment in the War Between the States, and at the turn of the last century, my maternal grandfather lied about his age and joined the Navy to escape a bad home life. My father served in the Army Air Corps and my only uncle flew the Hump in Burma during World War II, and my brother joined the Navy during Vietnam. I am grateful for them, and for those I’ve never met. I live in peace and security in part because they chose not to.

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