Scoop’s Views

Honoring their dead During a Fallen Soldier Ceremony at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, one of the flag draped coffins (not shown) containing the remains of one of 6 coalition soldiers, killed in Kuwait during a training exercise March 12 2001, is rendered a salute from a formation of Army Green Berets, as it is carried off a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft (not shown) at Ramstein Air Base, Rhineland Palatinate Deutschland / Germany (DEU), for transportation to the Landstuhl Regional Medical center for identification.    Photo by: TSgt. Maria L. Taylor, USAF. (March 15, 2001)

If you’re here in the U.S., today, Monday, May 28, 2007, is Memorial Day. For the older folks, it’s a well-established day, but for those 30 and younger, it’s little more than a holiday with parades that often slow their jaunts out of town or to the homes of friends for the start-of-summer barbecue.

Today, though, is Memorial Day. It’s one day a year, going back to the 1890s, that was set aside for the public to reflect upon those veterans of the nation’s military who have paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Yes, it is a day meant for us, the living, to reflect upon the U.S. military vets who died fighting for us, keeping our enemies at bay, and helping other countries break the grip of oppression.

There are some who say the “victims of September 11, 2001 terror attacks” ought be remembered in ceremonies in Memorial Day parades. That’s where I have to draw a line and gag.

Sure, a couple thousand Americans died that day. Most of those folks were civilians, but some were military personnel, albeit non-combatants, as they were in offices at the Pentagon. For the folks who died on September 11, 2001, the president at the time, who is still the sitting president, George W. Bush, saw fit to create a day in memory of those fallen individuals: 9/11. It’s called Patriot’s Day.

The difference between Patriot’s Day and Memorial Day is that the people who died on September 11, 2001, for the most part, died quickly. Many of them, according to documents released following the investigation of the collapse of the World Trade Center, were simply “vaporized,” meaning they never knew what hit them.

For those who die in combat, death is often a long, drawn-out affair, especially for those who are victims of the nasty Improved Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Iraq. Recent reports have revealed fecal matter, among other nasty items, including glass and metal, are being added to the IEDs. While many more troops are surviving than in any other conflict or war the U.S. has been involved in, many more troops are coming home with new ailments and problems than every before. Some are coming home, only to have a life of hell and torment in dealing with traumatic brain injury. Others are coming home, in large numbers, with missing limbs. Others are coming home permanently deformed.

Looking at Memorial Day, though, it is a day set aside for us, the living, to reflect upon the lives of mostly men, but now, even women, who have laid down their lives in defense of the U.S., and in some cases, “allies,” although many of those “allies” are but far-weather friends. They are allies when we do what they want and play by only their rules and give them what they want. When we call upon them to lend a hand, little more than a token gesture is made.

Today is a day to reflect on places such as Mogadishu, Beirut, Baghdad, Berlin, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor, Falluja, Kirkuk, Al-Basrah, Karbala, Tikrit, Ar-Ramadi, and Dahuk. Today is a day to reflect on places such as Grenada, Panama, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. Yes, today is a day of reflection upon every city, every province, every country where members of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marines, and the U.S. Air Force fought, were held as prisoners of war, or died or were killed.

When people enlist in the armed forces of the United States, most do not consider they will die for their country, but during their basic training, then their advanced training, and later, while assigned to their assigned units, it is drilled into them that if they adhere to the principles of their training, they may have a good chance of survival once the balloon goes up. They are reminded to make the other guy go home a hero — dead, in a box.

In all past conflicts and wars, the war dead generally came through Dover, Delaware, where they were greeted for their last salute and send off. That send off, though, was to a cemetery for burial. In the conflict in Iraq, though, the dead come home, shrouded from public view because it’s become an “unpopular” place, the dead are now handled only by their own, by their comrades. That’s seemingly appropriate, yet a desolate end to a life of service to this nation.

The uniformed men and women who have died in defense of this nation, or for that matter, any other nation they were sent to defend, have done so, for more than 225 years, without hesitation, without argument, and have served honorably.

In today’s society, though, people want to try shaming the men and women who serve in combat when they hear of “civilian deaths.” War isn’t pretty, hence the old adage that “War is hell.” People die. People are killed. That’s the grim reality. Sadly, though, the people in uniform are just as innocent as the “innocent civilians” people want to cry and whine about. The only difference between those “innocent civilians” and members of the uniformed services is that, for the most part, the folks in uniform have volunteered their service, nay, their lives, for those of us who are here, back home, in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Today, when you’re sitting down to enjoy the food from the grill, be sure to say a prayer for all those who have died to protect you — from the 1770s through today. While you’re at it, give a prayer for all those in uniform today.

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