After a rough day I’m supposed to be in bed and resting. Alas, I wanted to tend to a bit of admin work for this site and made the mistake of glancing at stories in my news feed. An article from the Washington Post had me cussing so loud those in neighboring apartments could probably hear me. I’m so angry because Veteran’s Day is for honoring the service of our nation’s Veterans. NOT for merchants to sell stuff, or parties or celebrations. And “Happy” Veteran’s Day? What the hell? But Trumpty wants to rename it to “Victory Day” because he thinks war and winning is something to celebrate! Again again I say not only No but HELL NO! Or as I first heard while going through the process of becoming a Marine (and so often after) “Not only NO, But F**K NO!”
Memorial Day is later this month. It will honor all those who gave their lives in uniform in the service of this country. I say if there was a God the first time Trump set foot on the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery he’d have been burnt to a crisp by a lightening bold from heaven. Not all those buried there, at other national cemeteries and in cemeteries all over this country died on a battlefield. Or even in the war zone where they were wounded. Sometimes it takes weeks, months and even years for the physical and/or psychological wounds suffered in battle to claim a Veteran. They deserve to be regarded with the same honor as those who died in battle. Even though we AGAIN have a Commander-in-Chief who considers them suckers and losers.
Veteran’s Day has a different tone. I’m an old fart. A Senior Citizen but from the time I can remember November 11 was a solemn day. We called it Armistice Day when I was in school because it marked the Armistice that ended WWI. Early on we were taught including in school that WWI was supposed to have been ‘The war to end all wars.’ History teaches bitter lessons on how misguided that widely held (in the years after) belief was. Botching the peace led to a second and deadlier World War. Something we also learned about. We even learned some about the Korean war, often referred to as the forgotten war. Then of course there was Vietnam.
The thing is, after WWII it started being thought that for all the war dead millions had served this country in uniform. Often that service took them to war, but also simply to far flung places around the globe to try and show force that would minimize the chances of a shooting war breaking out. The fact is, an awful lot of troops including sailors, especially submariners were eyeball to eyeball with enemy forces and at times could have found themselves in a shooting war in an instant.
So, in recognition that WWI didn’t end all wars and despite the words of McArthur at the signing of the peace agreement to end WWII the human race simply hasn’t evolved anywhere near quickly enough. There are bad people and nations out there that will use force and start wars to get what they want. That means we need people willing to train to fight them, as well as support troops. As I said, during our history so many millions have served, and so often volunteered to do so.
That my friends is how Armistice Day became Veteran’s Day. Before and while on active duty I marked the day. Still, it hit me in a profound way on a Veteran’s Day after leaving active duty. I was still a person of faith and was in church and it was close to Nov. 11. The minister called out each branch of the service and asked all those who’d served in said branch to stand up, and for others to look around. He went on to say some things I’ve already said about the holiday not being about sales, or celebrations but for honoring those who served. He specifically said no one should say “Happy” Veteran’s Day because it wasn’t about fun and happiness. Rather he said it was about service to others, and Veteran’s should be honored with thanking them.
That holiday like the upcoming and even more solemn Memorial Day has nothing to do with CELBRATING anything. Including “Victory.” Going to war is for when it’s the least bad of a sh*tty set of options. Same with preparing as a member of the Armed Forces to go to war. When you get down to it, to put it in Patton terms the job is about manufacturing cold, dead enemy bodies. So many more of THEM than your own side they give up. That things come to that, and that we’ve prevailed so often is something we should be thankful for. But NOT celebrate.
But Trumpty, who wears red, white and blue suits yet PAINT HIS FACE ORANGE wants to turn Veteran’s Day into a big Party. One HE of course intends to preside over so he can make it all about HIM. This is a guy who is a DRAFT DODGING COWARD! In fact, he got tired of the “hassle” of getting deferments and got his dad to bribe a doctor to write a letter about those magical bone spurs. In those days rich and powerful people could get away with that kind of thing.
I say “Magical” bone spurs because they only appeared while Trump was at the office to pick up his “Get out of Vietnam forever” card/letter. Before he made it out the door they’d melted away! But they HAD existed. They were HUGE. As Trumpty tells it no one has ever seen bone spurs like he had. Well, he’s kind of telling the truth. No one saw HIS bone spurs because he never had them. Yet for a time he tried to convince people he’d been afflicted. Not so much he couldn’t play tennis, or golf. And definitely not so much he couldn’t shake his tailfeathers at the trendiest NYC hotspots trying to pick the gal(s) he’d screw later that night!
I look at all that. I also look at his denigration of specific Veterans who gave so much in war and having survived continued to give extraordinary service. I look at his denigration of those who died, who he called suckers and losers. And his general lack of respect for anyone who’s served in uniform. No, this piece of SH*T, this flaming orange human shaped rectum has NO business messing with any holiday established to honor our troops. We’ll see if there’s pushback from Republicans. I fear too many are too afraid of Trump to tell him to just STFU on this. Trump isn’t even worthy of being assigned the duty of “burning the sh*tters” at an old school field latrine. There are Democrats who will say so, but what we need are Republican Veterans to join them.
For now, as I so often do I call on anyone who’s read this to contact federal legislators and say “Not only NO, But HELL NO” to this latest Trumpian bullshit.
***Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. It’s been an especially rough month and my own health has not been great these past few weeks, which just adds to the frustration. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. Ursula***
As the current topic goes on about cutting staff at the VA and reducing VA medical services, I can’t help but recall the WWII Vet college Prof lecturing the college Freshman in his “creative writing” class (me!) “There’s ‘The Contract’. WE signed over our lives for the duration. THEY promised those of us surviving THE BEST medical for the rest of our lives.” No, I won’t describe what brought that outburst on.
For what it’s worth, I’ve never really noticed any “sales” that are Veterans’ Day related beyond the concept of restaurants and fast-food outlets offering discounts (even free food/meals) or some retailers offering discounts on items to those who show military IDs or proof of veteran status (the veterans I know mostly retain some form of military-issued ID so they can access military base facilities like PXs and commissaries and hospitals and other on-base medical facilities).
Memorial Day, on the other hand, does generally have a lot of sales associated with it but that’s largely due to the “start of summer” connection that’s become attached to the day. Between schools generally ending their year around Memorial Day and the film industry having its “tentpole” films starting to be released and the “summer vacation” cycle (hotel rates tend to be their highest, gas prices tend to be their highest, etc) beginning, it was only “natural” for retailers to decide to take advantage of the day.
Vietnam and Afghanistan weren’t “victories,’ so I suppose Bone Spurs will cancel all VA assistance to veterans who served in those conflicts. See, cut waste & fraud!!!
The Korean War ended up pretty much with the line between North and South Korea unchanged. If McArthur hadn’t let his ego run amok (again) we might have been able to declare a solid victory. More importantly Seoul, the capitol which is so much more than that to the country and it’s history/heritage wouldn’t be under the constant threat that’s grown over the decades. Once we broke out of the Pusan perimeter we and allies pushed NK all the way up to the Yalu river, the dividing point between North Korea and China. THAT didn’t sit at all well with the Chinese. McArthur COULD have stopped well short of that point and people who “knew shit” advised just that. However, he was determined to take over every inch of Korea and even cross into China to provide a “buffer.” He even talked about using nukes. So China, hardly a military power when it came to quality of arms responded because they DID have MASSIVE resources in one thing needed to fight a war. People. Even then they had by far the world’s largest population and if they lost five or even ten million men the leaders in China simply didn’t care. Wave after wave of poorly armed and not all that well trained troops poured into NK and only nukes would have stopped them. As a result a lot of hard won territory was ceded and as I said when the cease-fire that created the current DMZ was signed the dividing line between the two Koreas was pretty much back where it started.
So, like WWI when the U.S. and allies pushed the invaders back to pre-war lines/territory it might be perceived as a “win” from the perspective of regaining control of what those who’d been invaded had before. However it could just as easily, and I think more accurately be described as it was when those wars ended – an Armistice or a Cease-Fire. Much more like a “Tie” than a “Win.” Not that Trump would know any of this. Nor care to learn since he’d rather PAINT HIS FACE ORANGE or play golf!
Think about it – our ‘Nam and Afghan efforts weren’t our only “losses”. Correct me if I’m wrong, but no engagement we’ve had since 1945 can be labeled a victory – Korea and Iraq, especially how we we administered the latter’s “postwar” recovery…..
I hope this is as successful as the Gulf of America.