Troop Movement

THE PUNDITS of the second decade of the last century took in the unspeakable carnage that shattered Europe from 1914 to 1918 and solemnly declared the conflict that caused it to be "the war to end all wars." Sadly, they hadn't seen anything yet. In the nearly century that has elapsed since then, wars large and small, necessary and unjust, effective and foolish, have culled from the world's population a heartbreaking number of men, women, and children, laid waste to some of our greatest cities, liberated the oppressed, turned aside evil, and given rise to epic tragedy. And so the holiday that came out of the Great War, Armistice Day, marking the day the fighting stopped, had to be renamed. They were other wars to be fought, after all, and so November 11 became known in the United States as Veterans Day, to honor those Americans who fulfilled the highest possible duty to their country.

After the social upheaval that surrounded the Vietnam War, we finally seem to have figured out that soldiers and sailors do not choose which wars to fight, and should not be held responsible for the ruinous decisions of their civilian leaders. At the same time, the atrocities committed by the well publicized few obscure the honorable work of the military majority, who go where they're ordered, do what they're told, and then come home, if they're lucky. To them I say thank you -- for doing often thankless work, for advancing and protecting the ideals of liberty, and for representing America with valor, strength, and decency.

Comments

[Tom G]

Here, here.