"A Veterans Day Reflection”by the Rev. Dr. George Clifford, U.S. Navy Chaplain, Captain (Retired)
Veterans Day is quickly becoming simply another public holiday, an opportunity for people to sleep late, stay home from school, or get a head start on Christmas shopping. Today, many see joining the military as a way out of rural communities or urban poverty; military recruiters emphasize educational opportunities and career bonuses. These perceptions, per se, are not bad. However, when the draft ended in 1973 and the U.S. military became an all volunteer force, any remaining sense of military service as an obligation that citizens owed to their nation disappeared. Similarly, aspiring politicians no longer consider military service an essential, if unofficial, prerequisite to elective office. Many U.S. citizens do not know anyone in the military and have little awareness of what military life is like.
In the last four decades, the U.S. has increasingly frequently turned to the military as the instrument of choice for implementing foreign policy. The U.S. conducted military operations in Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and numerous, less well know places. Regardless of whether one regards an operation as morally right, each operation took a toll on our military personnel. They repeatedly went into harm’s way, sometimes were killed or wounded, sometimes sacrificing important time and relationships at home, and always answering duty’s call to serve their country.
In other words, while reliance on the military to execute foreign policy has increased the American public feels less connected and less of a debt to its men and women in uniform. Veterans Day is an opportunity to change that. We need to remember that the military only implements policies formulated and adopted by our nation’s elected officials. Because we live in a democracy in which government is of and by the people, if we do not like our nation’s policies, then we have only ourselves to blame. Blaming military personnel for policies one believes immoral or failed, as happened during the Vietnam War, is wrong. Active political participation, seeking to influence public policy to match more closely our Christian convictions, is the most important way in which citizens can support their troops. Other significant ways to support our troops include regularly praying for their safety, communicating our support to them through correspondence, caring for families and loved ones during separations, and helping returned warriors transition back to civilian life.
The time has come to make Veterans Day more than parades, wreath laying, flags in cemeteries, and patriotic slogans. This Veterans Day, support our troops.
Veterans Day is quickly becoming simply another public holiday, an opportunity for people to sleep late, stay home from school, or get a head start on Christmas shopping. Today, many see joining the military as a way out of rural communities or urban poverty; military recruiters emphasize educational opportunities and career bonuses. These perceptions, per se, are not bad. However, when the draft ended in 1973 and the U.S. military became an all volunteer force, any remaining sense of military service as an obligation that citizens owed to their nation disappeared. Similarly, aspiring politicians no longer consider military service an essential, if unofficial, prerequisite to elective office. Many U.S. citizens do not know anyone in the military and have little awareness of what military life is like.
In the last four decades, the U.S. has increasingly frequently turned to the military as the instrument of choice for implementing foreign policy. The U.S. conducted military operations in Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and numerous, less well know places. Regardless of whether one regards an operation as morally right, each operation took a toll on our military personnel. They repeatedly went into harm’s way, sometimes were killed or wounded, sometimes sacrificing important time and relationships at home, and always answering duty’s call to serve their country.
In other words, while reliance on the military to execute foreign policy has increased the American public feels less connected and less of a debt to its men and women in uniform. Veterans Day is an opportunity to change that. We need to remember that the military only implements policies formulated and adopted by our nation’s elected officials. Because we live in a democracy in which government is of and by the people, if we do not like our nation’s policies, then we have only ourselves to blame. Blaming military personnel for policies one believes immoral or failed, as happened during the Vietnam War, is wrong. Active political participation, seeking to influence public policy to match more closely our Christian convictions, is the most important way in which citizens can support their troops. Other significant ways to support our troops include regularly praying for their safety, communicating our support to them through correspondence, caring for families and loved ones during separations, and helping returned warriors transition back to civilian life.
The time has come to make Veterans Day more than parades, wreath laying, flags in cemeteries, and patriotic slogans. This Veterans Day, support our troops.
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