Veterans Day

Xenia says:

I myself am a veteran. People want to thank me for my service but I only joined the Navy because at age 21 I was homeless. Homeless in Ohio in the middle of winter. I joined up for a bed and three square meals a day. I got all that plus a wonderful husband.

I think the last virtuous war the US fought was WW2 because we were actually attacked and Japan was planning to attack the west coast. All the other wars- Korea (still half communist), Viet Nam (Communist), Iraq (war was based on a lie) and Afghanistan (complicated) were not fought for the benefit of America but IMO to keep the military/industrial machine running. So many men came home wrecked.

My dad, and all those men of that generation who fought in WW2, knew why they fought Japan. It made sense. My dad was a marine medic in the Pacific theater. He came home with shrapnel in his leg, a never completely cured case of malaria, and an ammo box full of Japanese trinkets. He was a hero. Like most of the men of his generation, he rarely talked about it.

So when I get my military discount at stores and they say “Thank you for your service” I cringe. I joined up, during the Viet Nam War era, for entirely selfish, if understandable, reasons. I do not deserve to be put in the same category as my Dad, even slightly.

So that’s my take on Veteran’s Day.