Those who served paid--and most still pay

In the U.S., today is Veterans Day, when we honor those who served in our armed forces.

My stepfather, Ed, served.  My friend, Dave, served.  I've known many folks who did.  I did not; Nixon ended the draft before I could be drafted.

All the vets I've known who were in war zones paid not only then but afterward, when they had to carry the scars--sometimes physical, always emotional--of that service.  No one escapes a war unscathed.  Ed didn't.  Dave didn't.  No one does.

When we contemplate sending men and women to war, we should think long and hard about the costs we're asking them to bear for the rest of their lives--assuming they live through the conflict; many will not.  When those who survive come home, we should honor them, thank them, and be prepared to spend to take care of them, to help them deal with the costs they are bearing for what we as a society asked them to do.

We shame ourselves and dishonor them when we do anything less, and, sadly, we usually do far less.

My thanks to our veterans on Veterans Day

I never had to fight for our country, nor was I ever in the military.  I came close to being drafted after high school, but Nixon canceled the draft before I had to show up.  I was and am very grateful for that.  It may be the only thing I like about Nixon.

I've had my share of disagreements with our government about its choices of wars in my lifetime.  As I've written before, I've never felt we should have gone into Viet Nam, nor do I think we were right to invade Iraq, to pick but two examples of where I think politicians have made the wrong choices.

I have, however, never blamed the men and women who've served our country for those choices.  They signed up to do military service, and politicians sent them off to fight.

I tremendously respect and appreciate the service those men and women did.  Though I believe I can never fully understand the prices they paid, through veteran friends and family, including Dave and my stepfather, Ed, as well as via my own PTSD, I have a tiny inkling of that cost. I know they will continue to pay for the rest of their lives. 

On this day, let us thank our vets and honor them.  We cannot thank them enough.

Let us also push our government to take better care of them when they return from active service. 

They have more than earned that care and our thanks.

A few thoughts on Veterans Day

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, an armistice brought an end to the heavy fighting of the war to end all wars, World War I.

Would that it had been the last, but of course, many wars have followed it.

Today, we celebrated Veterans Day, though few people seem to remember that once it was Armistice Day, and few with whom I spoke today bothered to note the holiday.

I always note it, because though I never served in the military, many people I care about did. I'm going to focus on two.

One is my friend, Dave. He served in Viet Nam, and it messed him up. It still does. You can read his take on it here. He didn't believe in this war, but he did what he felt was his duty as a citizen. He paid a huge price. He still does.

The other is my stepfather, Edmund D. Livingston, Sr. Eddie died on July 19, 2000, while on vacation at the beach with all of us. He was a Marine in World War II. The day he died, he visited a Marine Corps base and an old battleship. In the war, he went ashore at Okinawa. He was wounded twice, but thanks to paperwork mess-ups, he received only one Purple Heart--a fact that angers me to this day. He was part of the occupation of Japan. The shrapnel he carried would still sometimes set off metal detectors over fifty years after he left the Marines. Ed paid hugely and many times for his service, but he wouldn't have dreamed of not serving when his country called.

Neither Dave nor Ed is the type of person who would seek a doctor's diagnosis, but I'd be stunned if PTSD didn't afflict them both. PTSD is a bitch; I know.

On this holiday, I don't want us just to thank the vets we know, or to think of those now gone. I want us to help those vets among us. I want all of us and our government to fully and openly acknowledge the traumas they endured and allocate enough funds to help them make it back to our world. (For a longer take on this topic, check out Aaron Sorkin's piece here.) It's not enough to say "thank you" to those who do the jobs most of us never want to touch; we must show that gratitude by welcoming them into the world they protected and helping them feel, after and despite all they've endured, that they finally once again belong.