Memorial Day 2022 - Celebration and Remembrance

 

There is a reason for celebration as well as remembrance today. This is the first Memorial Day in twenty years that our nation is not at war - Hallelujah!

Members 4th Div. Stryker Brigade  Afghanistan 2018

Our celebration must, however, be tempered by the fact that of the 3 million plus members of our armed forces who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (including my son) 7057 men and women - and 8000 civilian contactors - gave the last full measure for their country. We must remember too that those lives lost also mean that thousands of families watched with dread as a military vehicle pulled up to their home bringing them the terrible news. There are no words to describe that pain.

There is an additional and unique pain from these wars that we must acknowledge as well and that is the extremely high suicide rate among these veterans. As of July 2021, 30,177 have taken their own lives. That's over 4 times as many as those who died in combat. The demons of war always claim their share one way or the other.  

Hero Going Home

Therefore, this Memorial Day I hope we can put aside our petty political differences and come together to back up our usual empty “thoughts and prayers” with real action to support these heroes.

First, as the bills come due in the following years – some estimate that caring for these vets alone will cost $2.5 TRILLION - let’s pledge to do our duty and pay our fair share without whining and complaint. 

Second, our leaders - and more importantly - we citizens must take responsibility for the wars to which we commit our troops. When called the men and women of our military will answer as they always have and always will. That is all the more reason that we should never send them into harm’s way for unnecessary wars of choice. It is the very least we can do as we take safety and comfort in the security they provide.

Peace at Last

For now, though, let’s celebrate this rare moment between wars and honor all the loved ones we’ve lost in the hope that it becomes the norm.

To close, thoughts on "Taps." I have shared this on several past Memorial Days because I have never found a better way to express my feelings about this solemn day. For those of you who have seen it before and grow weary, I apologize.

"War is young men dying and old men talking. You know this. Ignore the politics."                                           Odysseus to Achilles in the movie "Troy"

I can’t listen to Taps and not tear up. It doesn’t matter how many times I hear it I always cry a little. Oddly, sometimes I’m not sure why I’m crying. Is it because of the magnificent mournful sound that so perfectly matches the feeling of saying farewell to a warrior? Or am I crying for all the loved ones left behind – the millions and millions over the years? Sometimes, I think I’m crying for something else; maybe I’m crying for myself.

That may sound silly, or worse, completely selfish and maybe it is. Yet I can’t help the feeling that ultimately, I’m crying because Taps reminds me that the world never seems to change for the better. No matter how many heroes – and they are heroes - pay the ultimate price, war always demands more from us. Worse, it is always our young that it craves. Worst of all, we proudly offer them up.

Maybe I’m sad that someone somewhere will always be able to make complete strangers kill each other for the same reasons over and over. It is like an eternal WWI battle that rages on the same, small piece of ground in perpetuity. This piece of ground is a devastated moral landscape that refuses to learn any lessons that might spare our youth. Instead, one generation, like some militant Sisyphus, pushes the rock of war up one side of the hill only to have it roll back on the next. No matter how just, proud sounding or righteous that rock is, it still remains a monument to all the worst aspects of us poor, belligerent humans. That should make us all sad.

I spent 28 years in the military and my son has also served honorably; I am proud of our time in the service. Someday Taps will be played for both of us but it isn't that which makes me sad. No, it is knowing that melancholy song will need to be played for endless future generations that will always make me cry. For that I am not ashamed.

Have a thoughtful Memorial Day.

Time for some tears . . .

Taps Mel Carter