Memorial Day Meditation

For John, BLUF:  With the end of the Military Draft a smaller and smaller portion of the nation has participated in Military Service, and in War, which means fewer with understanding of what war is about.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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THE RISKS OF MEMORIAL DAY NOT BEING PERSONAL

From War on the Rocks, by Marine Scott Cooper, 31 May 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

In 2007, I spent Memorial Day in Fallujah. Although I was on my fifth tour in Iraq, it was the first deployment when I buried friends.  I attended more than three dozen memorial services that deployment.  I remember the names and faces of the dead. Memorial Day was no longer an abstraction.

This year’s Memorial Day carries with it the anticipation that the country might be bringing the 9/11 wars to a conclusion.  America’s twenty-year war in Afghanistan is coming to an end.  The words that echo in my mind each year on this occasion are a phrase from President Abraham Lincoln:  “that these dead shall not have died in vain.”  It’s an unresolved prayer as I mourn lost comrades.

I worry that Memorial Day is personal to a smaller and smaller number of Americans.  As a national community, Americans may no longer have the ability to collectively remember and honor shared sacrifice, because the sacrifice is not shared.  The all-volunteer force created a military that is self-selecting.  The wars of 9/11 created many veterans who are self-regarding and condescending to those who haven’t served in the military.  A 2020 National Opinion Research Center survey found that a full 60 percent of post-9/11 veterans “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the eligible Americans who did not volunteer to serve during wartime should feel guilty, compared to just 43 percent of older veterans and 22 percent of civilians.  That is dangerous for the country.

The Author, Scott Cooper is a retired Marine Corps officer and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

If this intrigues you, read more of the article at the link, above.

Hat tip to my Buddy, and fellow Air Force Vet, Neal.

Regards  —  Cliff