UPDATED: Memorial Day 2008 — and responding to the mistreatment of American soldiers
The conversation led to the column. Last Saturday (May 17), as I was leaving a party for graduating honors students, I ran into a former student and another faculty member in the foyer. The faculty member is a veteran. He had served as the student’s senior thesis adviser and I had been her second reader. In seventy or so pages she had tackled a tough issue — balancing liberty and freedom with war time disicipline and restrictions. The other prof said to me “It’s good to find a student who knows we’re at war.”
Memorial Day comes a bit early this year, or so it seems. His comment was the “nudge” for this week’s column-. His comment echoed the sentiments of numerous other American soldiers and their families:
“We’re a military at war, not a nation at war,” the lieutenant colonel said ever so quietly but harshly as he leaned across the table at an Austin, Texas-area Rotary Club luncheon.
“We’re a military at war, not an entire country,” the newly promoted Marine major said vehemently, in the confines of a classroom at the USMC Command and Staff College at Quantico, Va.“You know what the problem is, Col. Bay. We’re here at war, and the rest of the country is on its butt,” the operations sergeant said to me.
Let’s review the timeline. The lieutenant colonel said that to me in spring 2006. The Marine major said that to me the first week of May 2008. As for the ops sergeant, his blunt instrument of an observation hails from summer 2004, delivered in and around Baghdad and delivered often.
In the column I mention my “expanded diet” of Civil War histories. I recently read Jennifer L. Weber’s Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln’s Opponents in the North (Oxford, 2006). That’s the book I had in mind when I wrote:
I’ve paid more attention to descriptions of the Union’s “home front,” particularly in the Midwest and Illinois — and I am certain this is due to our current experience with the War on Terror’s complex home front. At times anti-war sentiments in the North were expressed as disdain for Union soldiers.
This morning Michael Yon emailed and called attention to this travesty:
Dept of Transportation Federal Transit Administration sends:
Recently, there have been local incidents in which military personnel have been verbally assaulted while commuting on the Metro. Uniformed members have been approached by individuals expressing themselves as anti-government, shouting anti-war sentiments, and using racial slurs against minorities.
In one instance, a member was followed onto the platform by an individual who continued to berate her as she exited the metro station. Thus far, these incidents have occurred in the vicinity of the Reagan National Airport and Eisenhower Ave metro stations on the yellow line, however, military members should be vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times while in mass transit.
What to do? This week’s column pinches a couple of paragraphs from a Memorial Day speech I gave on May 28, 2005. (I posted the entire speech on the blog.)
Here’s the wind-up, which suggests a response:
On May 28, 2005, I delivered a brief Memorial Day speech at the Travis County International Cemetery. The place is one of those plots of ground with a decidedly checkered past. In the 19th century, it was a “paupers graveyard.” Today, a group of Hispanic veterans, Tejanos in Action, tends the graves of indigent American veterans buried in the cemetery.
The ceremony was simple. A Tejanos honor guard conducted a flag ceremony. A bugler played taps, and the honor guard fired a 21-gun salute. I kept the speech short — and here’s the gist of it:
“… At one time, this cemetery is what another era called a potter’s field … a gravesite for the destitute, for the disenfranchised, for the socially disdained, for those grand society might conveniently forget.
“… Tejanos in Action has changed that sad legacy … for this cemetery is now dedicated to remembering, not forgetting. Thank you and your organization for this gift, which enriches our history and in doing so enriches our spirit and … our democracy. The mission of each generation is to take what we have and do better, do more with it. Liberty gives us this chance, to choose to take a sad and forgotten plot and turn it into a beautiful, peaceful place.
“… Memorial Day is about taking a moment to reflect and to remember, to reflect and to respect the special gift of those who did their duty.”
And — I’ll add in 2008 — it is a day to thank those who do their duty now
UPDATE: Turns out memo was authentic but there have been few real incidents of harassment– perhaps only one, which produced the memo. As I put in a comment to this post a few days ago, I hope that’s so. The post-Vietnam maltreatment of soldiers must not be repeated.
I think you and Michael Yon were suckered (perhaps with wilful blindness) by that FTA notice. It has all of the hallmarks of a bogus agitprop story circulated by spam emails.
I was just in DC for two weeks and saw no mention of this in the local media.
Second, the Federal Transit Administration does not run the DC Metro, it manages data and funding for projects. There is a local authority for that, WMATA.
Seems like you are pretty credulous, but maybe you’re just promulgating the propaganda. Either way, you suffer a loss of credibility.
ED NOTE: See my note to a later comment. I hope the harassment report is wrong. The post-Vietnam experience, however, shapes many soldiers’ reactions. I didn’t refer to the harassment report in my newspaper column, just on the blog, and in the blog world you can link and readers can decide for themselves. The other thing I like about the blog world is stories can be corrected or updated quickly. This enhances credibility because it promotes the search for truth.
Comment by galoob — 5/24/2008 @ 1:41 pm
Your quote from the Ops. Sgt. was right on, as was he. Far too many citizens appear to be of the opinion that a $4.95 magnetic yellow ribbon on the trunk of their vehicle satisfies any obligation they may have towards the men and women whose day to day vigilance and frequent sacrifice on and off the battlefield continues to guarantee an atmosphere in which their complacence can flower.
Leaving aside rights and wrongs of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is still, to use a hackneyed but apt phrase, the flower of our country which we continue to send into the meat grinder of war. How will our nation survive this waste of our most valuable resource, the committed and valorous young men and women upon whom our future rests?
Comment by SFC John E. Carstarphen, Ret. — 5/25/2008 @ 8:59 am
Part of this results from how the media covers the war. You can tell that progress is being made because of the usual media blackout. The Copperhead media, invested in defeat, would much prefer to cover casualties instead of heroic acts.
Another part of the problem is that military history has mostly disappeared from the educational system. At the college and university level, only a handful of places offer a program in military history. At the secondary level, in some states events such as World War II or the Civil War are not taught at all, or presented in such a politically correct way so as to render any real understanding impossible. You can’t remember what you don’t know.
As the local incidents, I can’t comment on that. I can tell you, however, that when a there is a large Copperhead demonstration, the Prntagon tells service men and women to avoid the area, especially when in uniform.
Comment by Rich — 5/26/2008 @ 1:02 pm
Hi Austin;
I was at the Plan II commencement too. My daughter, Sarah Flynn graduated and is headed to Turkey for the summer as an intern in the US Consulate in Istanbul. Yeah, she speaks Turkish!
Anyhow, regardless of this being originated by some troll, I think anyone messing with our soldiers would be in danger from other passers-by. I would not hesitate to get between the jerk and his intended target to halt the action. I think there is the possibility that such a person was deranged.
During the Vietnam war I was antiwar. But being the son of a veteran, and the colleague of many returned vets, would have never considered trying to intimidate or embarrass them. For starters, they would ave kicked my butt. More importantly, they were simply soldiers doing their duty. No higher calling exists.
Best Regards.
Comment by Pete Flynn — 5/26/2008 @ 1:22 pm
It appears that the incident, which the FTA denies ever circulating a memo about, did occur and was discussed in an internal DOD memo. It’s the DOD memo that leaked out and like most of these incidents soon acquired victims and rumors of victims well beyond the only confirmed one.
http://pajamamedia.com/blog/are-soldiers-really-being-assaulted-on-the-dc-metro/
Comment by Pat Patterson — 5/28/2008 @ 6:49 am
Maybe if I learned to type the link would work?
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-soldiers-really-being-assaulted-on-the-dc-metro/
ED NOTE: I saw the pajamas story. Let’s hope these instances don’t occur, and if they occur, they are few and far between.
Comment by Pat Patterson — 5/28/2008 @ 6:54 am
I’ve heard first hand reports from my military offspring about bad behavior directed at them. I think it says much more about the hypocrisy of the supposed “peaceniks” than anything else.
ED NOTE: As I wrote earlier, I hope the memo is untrue or exaggerated. The memo is authentic (see link to Michael Yon’s blog) but it now appears it spun out of one or perhaps a handful of incidents. We could argue one is too many but in the real world it happens. Let’s consider what is behind this worry (on the part of the memo writer) and vets’ reactions: The post-Vietnam maltreatment was also authentic and persistent. I hear every once and awhile from people who say they regret the way they treated American servicepeople after Vietnam –they’re older and wiser. Tejanos in Action demonstrate how to respect the dead and treat livings soldiers and veterans.
Comment by Christine Bravo-Cullen — 5/28/2008 @ 9:45 am
I read the memo and it looks like someone reminding people to be circumspect about their work in order to avoid any other such incidents. It was not a count of incidents, it was not detailing any incidents.
When I was in the UAE from time to time we would get memos from the Embassy. Typically warning us to be careful and to take basic precautions such as varying routes & timings too/from work. This did not mean tons of us (or any of us) were getting kidnapped it just was a reminder to be careful.
Comment by Marcus Auerlius — 5/29/2008 @ 9:56 pm
What Marcus wrote: I read the memo and it looks like someone reminding people to be circumspect about their work in order to avoid any other such incidents. It was not a count of incidents, it was not detailing any incidents.
What the memo says: Recently, there have been local incidents in which military personnel have been verbally assaulted while commuting on the Metro. Uniformed members have been approached by individuals expressing themselves as anti-government, shouting anti-war sentiments, and using racial slurs against minorities.
In one instance, a member was followed onto the platform by an individual who continued to berate her as she exited the
metro station. Thus far, these incidents have occurred in the vicinity of the Reagan National Airport and Eisenhower Ave metro stations on the yellow line, however, military members should be vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times while in mass transit.
That’s so dumb it hurts God’s feelings.
Comment by Thom — 5/30/2008 @ 11:57 am
People are trying to blow up the memo into a Dan Ratheresque piece of reporting.
The memo is not worded in a manner to think the primary objective is to start a fire. The primary objective of the memo is to tell employees to keep a low profile.
ED NOTE: If some of these exploitative types bothered to read what I wrote they’d discover my link to the memo was based on disparaging this kind of behavior whenever and wherever it occurs. They read through a highly political prism. I thought it interesting that the fellow at the Village Voice concluded I was calling people who insult soldiers Copperheads — note the post mentioned Ms Weber’s book, which discussed maltreatment of Union soldiers. Perhaps he protests too much. The maltreatment of Vietnam vets is one reason so many soldiers are tough on even alleged incidents. Turns out the memo is authentic but the incidents (thank goodness) have been few. The exploiters can’t get past the memo’s authenticity — which does describe a specific incident. My own mention of the memo was ancilliary to the discussion of a column I wrote for Memorial Day and kudos for Tejanos In Action. But nuance is often immediately lost in blogstorms.
Comment by Marcus Aurelius — 6/5/2008 @ 9:09 pm