Veterans Day
Today is Veterans Day. I've been listening to the radio on my computer and also reading things there that spoke of the occasion, but still quite a bit of time passed before -- just now -- suddenly it occurred to me that this is a day in which I should feel that the observances are going on as much in my very tiny honor -- for a change -- as they are for anyone else who wore the uniform. I served as an enlisted man in the U.S. Air Force for four years, minus a few days.
But that was such a long time ago -- 1952-56 -- and despite my best efforts, like everything else, the memory of that experience is growing dimmer by the day. Though it was the Korean War, I was never in any situation that resulted in brain-searing trauma of any kind. Instead, in that less uptight branch of the Service, it was more of an extended youthful lark, and I spent time in a string of interesting places that I would never have otherwise seen -- first the Finger Lakes District of New York state and then Southern Illinois, California, Okinawa, Nebraska, and, for a few weeks, even the frozen wastes of Labrador. Even more important, I became acquainted with people from a great many of the various American subcultures -- maybe almost all of them -- whom I might also never have encountered otherwise, especially up so close.
In the course of that I worked with dedication on the airplanes, received commendations, got my honorable discharge, went back home, and that was it, and ever since I have taken no part in the veteran mystique, except that I did finish college on the GI Bill.
It's the same as the attitude that I have toward Christmas. Peace on earth and good will to men are issues that are with me every day of the year, and so to mark them mainly on one day of the year seems basically too mechanical and even unnecessary. Similarly things might happen at any time to remind me of one or the other of the myriad little aspects of having been in the Air Force.
So I leave the specialness of this day to others who understandably and rightfully have very different and more regular mindsets.
As to what some might see as the problem here, the trouble might have been that everybody that I served with seemed to have the same attitude as me. Patriotism, along with one's religion and their sexuality, were things to be taken purely for granted, and so during that time they almost never came up as topics of conversation. In my mind that principle still rings as true as ever.
But that was such a long time ago -- 1952-56 -- and despite my best efforts, like everything else, the memory of that experience is growing dimmer by the day. Though it was the Korean War, I was never in any situation that resulted in brain-searing trauma of any kind. Instead, in that less uptight branch of the Service, it was more of an extended youthful lark, and I spent time in a string of interesting places that I would never have otherwise seen -- first the Finger Lakes District of New York state and then Southern Illinois, California, Okinawa, Nebraska, and, for a few weeks, even the frozen wastes of Labrador. Even more important, I became acquainted with people from a great many of the various American subcultures -- maybe almost all of them -- whom I might also never have encountered otherwise, especially up so close.
In the course of that I worked with dedication on the airplanes, received commendations, got my honorable discharge, went back home, and that was it, and ever since I have taken no part in the veteran mystique, except that I did finish college on the GI Bill.
It's the same as the attitude that I have toward Christmas. Peace on earth and good will to men are issues that are with me every day of the year, and so to mark them mainly on one day of the year seems basically too mechanical and even unnecessary. Similarly things might happen at any time to remind me of one or the other of the myriad little aspects of having been in the Air Force.
So I leave the specialness of this day to others who understandably and rightfully have very different and more regular mindsets.
As to what some might see as the problem here, the trouble might have been that everybody that I served with seemed to have the same attitude as me. Patriotism, along with one's religion and their sexuality, were things to be taken purely for granted, and so during that time they almost never came up as topics of conversation. In my mind that principle still rings as true as ever.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 3:22 PM
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