I signed up for the Marines in June of 1978.
During the last century, there was a tradition among American families where one generation after another would do time in uniform. A year after signing up, I went into the Marines in 1979. No war. No controversy. No thanks for your service (a good thing). This was a time of Cold War era peacetime stability. The US Armed Forces were on the back burner, right where they are meant to be. Some signed up out of high school, some did not. Both choices were good. The parental generation would support doing an enlistment.
In the 60s & 70s I never attended a Veterans Day assembly at school.
There were none.
Probably enough veterans around to remove most of the mystique, or maybe those veterans thought it was all just an average thing and did not want to be seen as a separate part of American society, or get head of the line parking spots over at the grocery store. Maybe the concept of Armistice Day had not gone completely extinct.
Growing up in the 60s & 70s- veterans were all around- church, school, Boy Scout leaders, family, the neighborhood, etc. It was all just an average thing. These folks weren’t seen as a separate part of American society.
People weren’t stepping over to say “Thanks for your service” to my Dad- who did time in the Navy in the 50s- but looked just like anyone else out in public.
These guys weren’t lining up for free dinner promotions marketed by major restaurant chains.
2024
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. Understandable why young people & their parents & grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
The DOD brand has been wrecked.
Freedom?
Both major parties are OK with federal prohibition of alcohol and tobacco for adults age 18-20.
No such thing the day I graduated from high school.
That was before decades of military operations for your freedoms.
I think it is strange that modern American culture sees veterans as separate & different from the rest of society.
Each November, school teachers across America host Veterans Day assemblies– and promote the idea to children that The Troops are in distant lands-fighting for American rights and freedoms-as if the US Armed Forces function as some sort of giant civil rights organization.
In Washington State, these assemblies are mandatory.
The VA tells teachers that The Troops are Defending Liberty and Freedom.
Love to see a student ask: If The Troops fight for your right to sit, stand, kneel, etc.-why were black people still riding at the back of the bus after the big WWII victory?
Love to see a student ask: If the wars aren’t won-how can they protect our freedom?
Love to see a student ask: Whatever happened to lessons about Armistice Day?
Thousands of US families have now had a loved one who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Will they encourage new enlistments?
Related:
Veterans Seen as a Separate Part of Society
Most And Least Meaningful Federal Holidays
The country struggles with:
Possibly of interest:
Podcast 9 Defending The Constitution?
How Do The Troops Defend The Constitution?
Not asking about the oath of enlistment. Asking about what happens after the oath has been taken.
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in these areas.
Photo-
Something from the last century.