Yeah this is going to probably tick some people off, but it needs to come out. The truth about two very different cultures and why both sides have an extremely hard time dealing with each other. I hinted about something in a previous post and this is exactly what I've been wanting to talk about.
So where to begin................oh I know lets take a trip through the past and lets look at what happened during the 60s and 70s with the treatment of veterans returning home from war. I specifically want to look back at the Vietnam era. Arguably this was the worst treatment of American service men and women then of any generation that had gone off to war( I'm not going into politics so don't bring it up if you comment, thank). What these veterans endured no one should of, but it happened I mean we're talking about sheep's blood being splashed on Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines a like, being spit on and mocked for fighting and dying for their country. It was a disaster and you know what history is about to repeat itself if we as a Nation aren't careful to watch the treatment of veterans. Oh by the way I knew an old Navy Masterchief who is a Vietnam Era veteran and he recalled returning home and having sheep's blood splash and that for me really brought the whole experience home about what happened to these Vietnam Era veterans.
I've talked to many Vietnam veterans and I must say they have much respect for what they went through when they came home from Vietnam. It was just absolutely terrible the way they were treated by their fellow countrymen. They probably have more of my respect then any other generation out there of veterans. I'm proud to have met the veterans from that era and all other veterans who have gone before me in service of this great nation.
So why the clashes between veterans and society ? Why do people continually feel the need to trash veterans for severing their country ? The clash seems to be stirred up once again and this time the veterans are completely different, but so far most of the conflict I believe have been with the veterans who specifically have P.T.S.D. (post traumatic stress disorder). I say this because everyone seems to think just because a veteran has P.T.S.D. that makes them crazy, untrustworthy, and blood thirsty killers or some dumb thing like that. I think people need to realize that if this continues we as a nation could be looking at a repeat of what happened during the Vietnam Era and to be just honest with ya'll I would not be surprised if that happened. Let's look at how long we've been in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iraq easily 9 years maybe closing in on 10 and Afghanistan 10 years closing in on 11. That is to long for the current forces in our nation's military to keep fighting and not have our servicemen and women having a lot of issues rising up from three or more deployments.
So here's the challenge. How do we as a nation help bridge the ever widening gap between society and our military members ? I think first and foremost we must educate ourselves better along with the news media that is doing the reporting of what's happening with our nation's veterans. A lot of people will never understand what we as Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen have faced while in Iraq or Afghanistan, but they should be able to educate themselves as to help them better grasp the reality of what is happening to them. Another sad truth is in the not to distant future most Americans probably won't want to join the military unless they know someone who was at some point in their life.
With all that's been said I must say I'm not to excited about the future and treatment by society and veterans a like simply because of the gap that is growing year by year. People don't feel the need to respect these brave men and women who put their lives on the line. Who've lost friends and have experienced more then most people in the United States will ever. Heck, we aren't a third world country, but that doesn't mean things don't need to change around. I hope you enjoyed reading because I truly enjoyed writing it. I pray that something is done to stop the ever widening gap between our veterans and society.
© Nathan Fahlin
This was an interesting read Nathan. I especially found your parallel to Vietnam vets to today's Armed Forces to be particularly enlightening.
ReplyDeletePart of the problem, I believe is Awareness. Funny I should say that right? Because isn't that also the solution? Why yes, it is! Unfortunately, when you know just enough to be afraid and not enough to be truly aware and sympathetic/active/productive on the subject, we end up with our current situation. The American masses are getting far more educated on the EXISTENCE of PTSD, but not on anything further. In FACT, most Civilian Americans probably can't even define it for you with any real degree of accuracy or articulation.
So the problem is awareness, but the solution is education, which is really just better awareness.
On one hand, I will tell you that from my perspective, I see more people THANKING their Military Men and Women in the public than villianizing them. I routinely have uniformed men and women in my office and I frequently thank them for their service to the American people. I think we do live in a different era than the 60's and 70's, where we attempt to be aware of things, but sometimes that just doesn't go far enough because we (as the public) know just enough to be fearful, but not enough to do anything about it.