I spent more time in uniform than most, 11 mostly good years, and I never saw it as a sacrifice or myself as a hero. The heroes are in cemeteries and VA hospitals across the land. To just call somebody in uniform a hero cheapens those who really did make a sacrifice, some of them ultimate. On Memorial Day we sometimes lose track of just what the day really means. I must have gotten a thousand advertising flyers for Memorial Day sales. Most of those are emblazoned by the red, white, and blue and offer me Hi-Def TV's, refrigerators, tires, and even vittles. There are festivals galore. In my own backyard we have "Freedom Aloft" weekend which is a gathering of dozens of hot air balloons which usually brings them over my house. In years past, some have even crash landed on people's houses. There are kiddie rides and lot's of food I'm not allowed to eat anymore..But will anyway. I doubt many will think about what used to be a solemn day when fresh flags were placed on the graves of Veterans from all our wars and conflicts.
We still have too many soldiers and Marines in combat in places where we really aren't liked much. And the lessons of Viet-nam have been lost in our fervor to impose democracy on countries that don't know the meaning of the word. In the beginning, we didn't know what it meant either. It was the dream of some very forward thinking men of an experiment where we, the people, would have liberty, a word that had never been used before to define a country of diverse and sometimes radical views. To be sure, the Constitution itself was a compromise to bring 13 states under one umbrella. The Articles of Confederation had failed, and it looked like the nation itself would fail. That view of failure led the British to try to take back her territories in the War of 1812, but by then, the Constitution had 23 years to take hold, and we were able to retain our liberty, although just barely.
Since then, dozens of wars, some frivolous, some out of necessity, made us the most feared of all the world's powers. The British Empire declined, the Spanish Armada was gone, Nazi Germany rose and fell, Communism took hold, only to fall under it's won weight. Suddenly, we were the only ones left to maintain world peace. NATO has always been a paper tiger. If not for our billions of dollars and tens of thousands of troops, NATO would be nothing but a bunch of politicians arguing why they COULDN'T go to war.
Now we are involved in 3 theaters of operation. Iraq is drawing down but still is a fragile democracy in it's infancy. The big question is will she stand on her own once we have pulled out with only a few advisors left. Afghanistan is the big question. Will our leaving, as promised, open the door to the Taliban to return? My guess is yes, and those who have died on the battlefield will have died in vain. And the "Non War" in Libya actually see a change in government to a true democracy, or will radicals swoop in to fill the void if and when Quadafi leaves. You cannot impose democracy. It has to be earned, and without courage, will fail.
So as we buy a new Hi-Def TV, or refrigerator, or tires..And watch the dozens of hot air balloons fill the sky, remember those who serve far from home, and hope no more flags will be placed on the final resting place where they, as Abraham Lincoln so succinctly put it, "Gave the last full measure of love and devotion". And God Bless America and those who walk in the shoes where so many of us walked before.
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