They Are All Dead

I spent a week seeing how well military veterans are compensated for 4 years of staying-out-of-prison, if they know how to work the system. And for many members of the “voluntary Army” (Navy, Air Farce, and Marines) that is all their “service” amounted to at the time they “volunteered”: some judge told them “Go to jail or join the Army.” And they chose some branch of the military rather than jail. So much for the specialness of being “all you can be.” Currently, the US military employs more than two million “volunteers.” Obviously, some of those are actually volunteers and some of that number clearly holds the ideals of democracy and freedom very close to their hearts. And if Donald Trump and his owners and minions have their way, those few will either be executed as traitors or kicked out of the government for “disobedience.”

Whenever I hear the “thanks for your service” homily, I think of my Vietnam era friends who were sacrificed for the corporate interests that pulled the country into that war. I’m talking about the ones who fought and either died “in country” more than 50 years ago or lived disorderly lives, desperately trying to find some meaning for their survival when they were paroled from their term of “service.”

I also think of my father and his almost constant confusion about what he was doing, and why, as a very rural Kansas 23-year-old farm-boy pretending to be an Navy LST pilot in WWII. I think about the enlisted men who carried him across the Atlantic from Norfolk, Virginia to North Africa to Italy and to Normandy. When that series of catastrophes failed to kill him, but had decimated the majority of the men with whom he’d crossed the ocean, he was assigned to an assortment of aircraft carriers and battle ships, promising to return to the States, where instead he was swept into the Pacific war doing a variety of jobs for which he had no training or aptitude until that war ended. He never believed he was a “hero,” but I’ve read stories of those who fought in that Great War who definitely were heroes, by any standards; but who Donald Trump and his ilk believe were “suckers and losers.”

But today all of those heroes who fought for everything Americans pretend to represent (Truth, Justice, Freedom, and the American Way!) are dead or all but extinct. World War II ended in 1945, 79 years ago, and anyone who fought in that war is likely dead and the few centenarian vets left alive were more than likely US-bound support staff. The heroes are nearly all dead.

Since WWII, American military actions have been for fascist, imperialist-style purposes; protecting the interests of the rich and powerful and repressing democracy where ever it reared its head. I can not find a single moment in my lifetime (from 1948 up to now) when the US military was doing anything that “protected the freedoms” of the American citizen (other than the financial interests of the 0.1%). From Korea to Iraq and Afghanistan, our military has been guarding against and repressing the outbreak of democracy and human rights across the globe. And to keep military veterans from thinking about what they have done, their crimes against humanity, we thank them “for their service” and anoint those who are smart enough to think about what they’ve done with lavish privileges for the rest of their lives to keep them quiet.

And that works to the extreme, so that when a veteran from the Vietnam War, Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, or even “successful” invasions like Grenada and Panama, speaks out against the criminal behavior of our government their worst critics and, even, violent enemies are other vets. The “Volunteer Army” was likely the beginning of the end for both the idea of patriotism for our rarely-lived ideals and any hope that the United States might evolve into a democracy.

Eliminating the draft had nothing to do with creating a “more professional military,” it was driven primarily by the soldiers’ revolts during the Vietnam War. The corporate interests that are behind every military action, overt or covert, that the US government has taken since WWII require obedience, first, and excellence, rarely, to achieve their objectives. With enough firepower and corruption and the natural gullibility of at least half of every population, fascism gets what it wants with no sacrifice from those who reap the most benefits. So, what we should be remembering on Memorial Day is who was harmed, what innocents were murdered, and how much damage to human habitat has been done in the name of “patriotism.” In a rational world, anyone who willingly sent others into war would be an international criminal and an enemy of all humans. But we don’t live in that world.