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Veterans Day
2003-11-11 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearI don't normally think about Veterans Day very much; it's not a work holiday, though ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chaoswolf had the day off school yesterday, and Emmy has today off. I never served in the armed forces; I lucked out in the draft lottery in the Vietnam era. My brother was a CO (after I softened up our local draft board); I later found out that one of my grandfathers had been one in WWI.
My father was a vet, though; he served in WWII, doing something involving radar in Britain. He never talked about his experiences -- never -- all the information I have are two sentences in his obituary. But I assume that it was the GI Bill that put him through grad school.
We don't treat our veterans very well anymore, perhaps because we no longer have 'real' wars. We have a 'police action' in Korea, get stuck in the middle of a civil war in Vietnam where a trickle of 'advisors' turns into a flood of draftees without Congress ever issuing declaration of war. We run training camps for any terrorist group opposed to a regime we don't like, and send aid to any tinhorn dictator who claims to be opposed to the ideological enemy of the day. We invade Iraq -- twice -- under circumstances that leave it thoroughly unclear whether the objective is to restore freedom or to preserve our access to cheap oil.
Then when things go badly, as they usually do these days, we bring the troops home and try to ignore them, except for the few who have to sue their own government to get care for illnesses like Gulf War Syndrome or exposure to chemicals like Agent Orange.
Meanwhile, our leaders declare `war' on drugs, and now terrorism. There will be no veterans coming home from these so-called wars; nor can there ever be an armistice to end them. Calling these conflicts "wars" is merely a public-relations ploy and an excuse to give a corrupt administration permanent use of the powers they would have, temporarily, in a real war.
Maybe that's why I try not to think about Veterans Day very much.
chaoswolf had the day off school yesterday, and Emmy has today off. I never served in the armed forces; I lucked out in the draft lottery in the Vietnam era. My brother was a CO (after I softened up our local draft board); I later found out that one of my grandfathers had been one in WWI.My father was a vet, though; he served in WWII, doing something involving radar in Britain. He never talked about his experiences -- never -- all the information I have are two sentences in his obituary. But I assume that it was the GI Bill that put him through grad school.
We don't treat our veterans very well anymore, perhaps because we no longer have 'real' wars. We have a 'police action' in Korea, get stuck in the middle of a civil war in Vietnam where a trickle of 'advisors' turns into a flood of draftees without Congress ever issuing declaration of war. We run training camps for any terrorist group opposed to a regime we don't like, and send aid to any tinhorn dictator who claims to be opposed to the ideological enemy of the day. We invade Iraq -- twice -- under circumstances that leave it thoroughly unclear whether the objective is to restore freedom or to preserve our access to cheap oil.
Then when things go badly, as they usually do these days, we bring the troops home and try to ignore them, except for the few who have to sue their own government to get care for illnesses like Gulf War Syndrome or exposure to chemicals like Agent Orange.
Meanwhile, our leaders declare `war' on drugs, and now terrorism. There will be no veterans coming home from these so-called wars; nor can there ever be an armistice to end them. Calling these conflicts "wars" is merely a public-relations ploy and an excuse to give a corrupt administration permanent use of the powers they would have, temporarily, in a real war.
Maybe that's why I try not to think about Veterans Day very much.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 09:24 am (UTC)I've always been curious about what Zaide did in the war. Has anyone actually done any research or has it been avoided for some reason? I've always been a bit curious as to how much Bube knows but I'm too timid to ask. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 01:33 pm (UTC)I'll type in what I have tonight; there's not much. As far as I know there's no reason not to talk about it; it's just that Dad never did.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 08:45 pm (UTC)