The flower of our youth march off to war carrying the honor of our nation into battle. Some come back only to be buried; others come back with the ravages of war still upon them. Then tragically over the years the grateful nation that sent them into war with the bands playing becomes an ungrateful nation because of the cost of dealing with those war injuries.
I was thinking about this because the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs has announced thirty years later than they should have that a clinic is opening in Las Cruces to allow the large population of veterans in the area easier access to services.
Several veterans spoke last week with guarded optimism about this development. They have every right to be guarded in their optimism about what the Department of Veterans Affairs is going to do for them. Many have spent years not being treated with respect by an ungrateful nation despite their service to our country.
Politicians who did not ever serve in the military themselves are fond of saying, “Thanks for your service.” But do they mean it? Less than twenty percent of the current Congress served in the military. Recently I quoted in another column the saying, “A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.”
That is what I think of our current crop of politicians locally, statewide and nationally. Most, not all, spout their support for the military and veterans but then vote otherwise. They try to get the vote of veterans without actually supporting them.
One of my friends served honorably in Vietnam and is suffering years later the Agent Orange effects which Congress refuses to adequately address. He has worked tirelessly over the many years, when not incapacitated by this illness, for Congress to fix the concurrent receipt problem where veterans are not treated as well as citizens who never went into combat.
There is a strong anti-military climate in our country. Recruiters are not welcome in many high schools and colleges. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan restricted military recruiter access to Harvard Law students after U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled law schools could do so. Ask any military recruiter how he or she is treated in schools. It is obvious the distain for the military by people they protect with their lives.
Example: in every election, overseas serving military are often denied their vote by rules back home. This is something veterans talk to me about often. They note that the military vote could have tipped several elections but the rules for voting were written such that non-citizens can vote but not the overseas military.
Consider this: in almost every community there are students who in the future might step between us and danger but they see how the military is treated. Regardless of the fact that the law requires all young men to sign up for Selective Service, I doubt those men will serve with anything less than a gun to their heads because of the attitudes being inculcated in our youth about the military.
So who in the future will fight for our freedom against the forces of evil worldwide? Congress has left a bad taste in the mouths of the very people (veterans and the military now serving) who could encourage young people to serve their nation. These acts of an ungrateful nation insure young people who might protect us in the future will do everything in their power to not serve.
I am profoundly grateful for the service to our country by our military and deeply saddened by the treatment they receive from this ungrateful government.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
