Veteran’s Day came into being on June 1, 1954 as a date to honor all who served in the US Military. Memorial Day is a day for remembering those who died while serving in the Military. We celebrate Veteran’s Day on the date of the WWI armistice, the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 that ended the fighting. That was exactly 96 years ago today.
Veteran’s Day brings the reflexive, “thank you for your service” from everyone in America. The two things the average person could do to honor the service of veterans are to vote, and to make sure that Vets get the health care they need when they come home. Sadly, we do neither:
People: If you say that veterans died to protect our freedoms, you dishonor them when you don’t vote!
The Census Bureau reports that in 2013, 3.6 million veterans had a service-connected disability, with 957,504 having a rating of 70% or higher. Severity of disability is scaled from 0 to 100%, and eligibility for compensation depends on the rating. Let’s also remember that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is at epidemic levels among Vets, as is suicide. According to a study by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 22 Vets a day commit suicide. You all know we continue to do a terrible job taking care of returning veterans, and you should be finding out why, and pushing your congressperson to finally fix it!
Veterans rapidly are becoming a two-age group cohort. The Census Bureau report shows that most Vets are getting older, with 47% over the age of 65. Tom Dispatch reports that today’s military is made up largely of Millennials. In fact, with nearly 43% of the active duty force age 25 or younger, and roughly 66% of it 30 or under, it’s one of the most Millennial-centric organizations around.
How the “entitled” generation will perform as our protectors is still up in the air. An NIH study determined that people in their 20s have Narcissistic Personality Disorder at a rate three times that of people 65 or older and a recent survey by Reason and pollster Rupe found that 18-24 year olds are indeed in favor of participation trophies while older Americans overwhelmingly favor winners-only prizes.
Millennials may yet surprise even a cantankerous coot like the Wrongologist. Time will tell.
Here are two terrific, but very under-appreciated tunes for Veteran’s Day. We start with “1968” by Dave Alvin.
Sample lyric:
And tonight in this barroom he’s easin’ his pain
He’s thinkin’ of someone, but he won’t say the name
Folks say he’s a hero, but he’ll tell you he ain’t
He left a hero in the jungle, back in 1968.
Here is another almost unknown song “I’m Writing in the Margins” from the album of the same name by John Gorka about a soldier in Afghanistan:
Sample lyric:
I am writing in the margins
Notes to me and you
Cause the pages are all filled
With new orders coming through
There are not a lot of rich boys
Wearing DCUs and sand
But I’ll think about that later
When I make it home again
(DCUs are Desert Camouflage Uniforms)
There is a great story told about a T-Shirt worn long after the war by a Vietnam Vet. On it was the outline of a map of Vietnam, superimposed with:
Participant, Southeast Asia War Games, 1961-1975: Second Place.
Huge thanks to the guys/gals who follow orders, who do really hard and dangerous things and who too often pay a high price for doing so.
Sources:
Famous historian of war, John Keegan said (more or less) that all a soldier really wants for his willingness to die is care in his old age (so a fair pension and medical care). He said it more poetically, but the point is the same. Sadly, by constant deployments in a war zone where it was impossible to relax (no front line) we created more PTSD that in some earlier wars. And we offer less to returnees, especially national guard.
PTSD skew higher with less intelligent folks (trust me, I know that data) and now, unlike WWII for all served, our soldiers, especially the guard, are the poorest, least sophisticated, least educated soldiers ever.
Read Keegan’s “The First World War”. Great writer. I was drafted, hated the idea, but in the end, was glad for the experience. I believe that mandatory service should be a requirement, it is the only thing that will reduce our propensity to send young people into wars of choice.
I don’t know about the Millennials but I was inspired last night. I watched two Boy Scout Troops serve as honor guards for our towns Veteran’s Day Ceremony. The level of respect that they showed the vets that were in attendance was exceptional.
Happy Veteran’s Day Wrongologist. We’ll talk soon.