Honoring our Veterans

Today is Veterans Day --- the day we honor the brave men and women, living and dead, who have served in the armed forces. We display our flags, watch a parade and say a prayer, but for those whose lives have been touched by war, it never seems to be enough.

All of the men in my family, my father and three uncles, fought in WWII. The threat was real, our cause was true and the mission was clear. There was no hesitancy about taking up the fight. Everyone volunteered --- committed to the victory we knew would be ours.

But every cause, no matter how true, has a price. My uncle Johnny, my namesake and the baby in the family, was killed in action in Belgium. He was a young man who never had a chance to experience all that life offered. The grateful words of his commander and even the Silver Star for bravery could not ease my family’s pain.

Then came Vietnam, which ripped the country apart. We sent hundreds of thousands of troops to fight a war where the mission wasn’t clear, the strategy was flawed and our government lacked the will to win.

I was an eighteen-year-old kid who joined the Marines. They were the toughest guys I ever met. They trained with a level of intensity most people never experience, yet no one was eager to go to war. They didn’t care about the politics and pushed the fear of dying out of their minds. There was a job to be done; a mission to be accomplished; and they were determined to be ready when the call came. In time, they bonded like brothers and came to feel invincible. But like every other war, there was a price to pay.

Young Marines, barely out of high school, were thrust into some of the most savage combat of the war. Before our training was even finished, body bags with members of our boot camp platoon were coming home.

From there it just got worse. Fighting increased, casualties mounted and before long it seemed that everyone had a father, son, husband or friend who was killed in action or had their life irreparably changed by the war.

And for what? To stop global Communism? Remember the “Domino Theory”? Because the South Vietnamese government asked us to be there? Yes, it’s true. We were even told that this was a counter insurgency action and we had to “win the hearts and minds” of the people. Sound familiar?

Years later we learned that John Kennedy’s fear of Communism was unfounded; Lyndon Johnson’s fear of failure paralyzed him into inaction; and Robert McNamara, the chief architect of the war, admitted in the last years of his life that going into Vietnam was a mistake. Maybe the death of 58,000 troops on his conscience was too much to bear.

Now we’re in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is ripping the country apart. We sent hundreds of thousands of troops to fight two wars where the missions aren’t clear, the strategies are flawed and our government lacks the will to win. Didn’t we learn anything from Vietnam?

The wars have cost billions of dollars and the loss of thousands of lives. Casualties are rising and the enemy is getting stronger. No one can explain our mission, the President’s fear of failure has paralyzed him into inaction and our strategy is decided on congressional “fact finding” missions by politicians trying to show they are tough on terrorism. The local governments are corrupt, the heroin trade is flourishing and by all accounts the terrorists we’re chasing are hiding out in Pakistan with impunity.

We’re always hesitant to criticize a war effort for fear of dishonoring the memory of the brave troops who sacrificed so much for our country. But its time to say enough is enough. Our troops in all branches of the military have served with distinction and deserve our respect and admiration. Like my Marine Corps brothers and sisters, they have given real meaning to the terms Honor, Courage and Commitment.

If we really want to honor our veterans, then bring the troops home.