Veterans’ Day Welcome Home

Republished from last year;

This year, like every year, I posted my portrait as a young platoon sergeant to my Facebook avatar, not as a way to attract the inevitable “thanks for your service” comments or even the flirts that I get (obviously from blind women). No, I posted it because I’m proud that I had an opportunity to serve my country. I never did anything heroic, nor do I claim that service in itself makes me a hero. But, those two decades of service has had a huge impact on my life and the lives of my family.

Another reason I do it is because my military antecedents of the Vietnam generation weren’t encouraged to discuss or advertise their service. When they came home from their war, they took off their uniforms and their service remained in the duffel bags in a dark corner of their basements. Even the soldiers who fought in wars before them didn’t respect their service. The Korean War veterans experienced the same treatment from the World War II generation when that war was fought to a draw.

Somehow, that black scar across the landscape on the National Mall etched with 58,000 names changed that. I won’t try to explain the phenomenon, I’ll just recognize that was the turning point for Americans’ appreciation for military service. Now, I can be publicly proud of my service because of the sacrifice that Vietnam veterans made, the sacrifice that came after they returned from war.

The pendulum has swung all the way back to the other extreme, now people who never served want to strap on a uniform and tell wild tales about wars in which they never really served. Our Stolen Valor page is chocked full of them. I guess we should feel better that everyone wants to be like us, but trust me, we don’t.

The appreciation that Americans have for their military has even prompted the people who haven’t served to denigrate our service in an attempt to elevate their own station in life by attempting to drag our reputations down to their level. They even make it attractive for veterans to come out this time of year and write articles about how they don’t think they should be thanked for their service. We have a word for that, now – it’s called being a Blue Falcon.

I’ll admit that I’m a little embarrassed every time someone thanks me for my service, because being in the military was the best times of my life, and I’m embarrassed that someone thinks that I need to be thanked for the privilege of getting paid for being the best asshole I could be.

But, I know the feeling that I got the first time I went to downtown DC on Veterans’ Day and, encountering a lone Vietnam veteran hanging out on the periphery of the activities, I reached out my hand and said “Welcome Home”, he shook my hand and then quickly brushed away a tear, embarrassed by his own emotional reaction to those two simple words.

Maybe that’s what we all want – instead of the thanks, the martial pageantry, the placards, the cheers – maybe we just want to feel welcomed back here in our home.

My special thanks to all of the Vietnam veterans who made sure that we didn’t have to wait two decades to feel welcomed.

Category: Veterans Issues