So today is Veteran's Day in the US. It is a national holiday set aside to remember and honor people who fought for the freedom of this country. Well, supposedly.
You see, I think that once upon a time, soldiers did fight to keep this country free. World War II is the primary example. But round about the Korea war or the Vietnam war, we stopped doing that and started sending troops to other areas of the world on police missions. The validity of these missions can definitely be debated at length. I still wonder if Christopher Hitchens, a man I respect greatly for his erudition and his sense about the world, can truly be wrong about overturning Saddam Hussein, but we obviously went about it all wrong.We may have removed Hussein, but what kind of life did we supply those people in exchange?
And now as I approach a decision to serve as an Army doctor, I honor those who gave their time and lives for this country. They deserve our greatest respect. I have multiple family members who served: my father, my deceased grandfathers, my uncle, and I married into a military family. My husband went to a military high school. My father in law was a Marine in Vietnam. My mother in law had brothers who served at Air Force Bases. And my brother in law served in the Coast Guard for years.
I think that, whatever your opinion may be of the military, that scorn or derision or whatever should be pointed more at the policies that use it as a law enforcement tool. We went into Iraq for entirely the wrong reasons, and and now we have to get out of there while leaving chaos in our wake. We need to more closely scrutinize the decisions that may lead us as a country to use the military.
On a completely different note, I found this over at Darwin Killed God. I found it very interesting, and worth chewing over. Enjoy.
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