Archive: Opinions

Our country is rife with divisive arguments these days, months, but as an amateur history buff I can truthfully state that there seems never to have been a time when America wasn't arguing about something. The topics of the time might seem specious or superficial now, but there was nothing in the national consciousness which did not breed its fractious notions and outraged voices.

I was fascinated, recently, in reading H.W. Brands' biography of Andrew Jackson to learn that South Carolina had almost seceded in 1832 (Jackson had even mobilized the military) not over slavery (that would come thirty years later) but over tariffs, especially on cotton. A constitutional argument gone awry, almost to arms, over what the Founding Fathers had written, and more especially NOT written. Same familiar names (Calhoun, Clay, Webster) and same angry accusations: division upon division that thirty years later devolved into predicted (even by John Quincy Adams in 1830) bloodshed over slavery, states' rights to secede, and what was called nullification. Arguments which would today seem arcane, if America of the 21st century could even understand.


Looking at one of the possibly specious contemporary controversies, it also has its historical proportions and precedents. No, not immigration, or state secrets, but the reported planning by the Pentagon for a parade: a big, glorious military parade ordered up by the Commander-in-Chief. Ostensibly, he says, to honor our military and its day to day heroes. The only question now seems to be exactly when to have this shindig. Independence Day? Veteran's Day (ironically once called Armistice Day...). As you might expect, I have a few thoughts, and questions, other than what day to highlight on my calendar.

As is obvious to many by now, I am a combat veteran. Twelve months in Vietnam, and six more years in a so-called 'peace-time Army', though I look back and wonder what was so peaceful about much of those two enlistments. A year spent in South Korea with a combat helicopter battalion stationed along the DMZ laid bare the fact that our troops (alongside South Korean and NATO troops) were in a perpetual state of war, slightly akin to previous experience in Southeast Asia, although in a perpetual state of war-ready stasis, with death occurring on an irregular but still soul jarring frequency (you didn't hear about those deaths much back here in the 70's, nor do you recognize the non-peace state nowadays; American troops in the 2nd Division were paid combat pay even into the 80's and later).

In any case, my military experience thankfully did not include an awful lot of parading around to satisfy generals. We paraded when we graduated from basic training (memory lost, here), we paraded occasionally when garrisoned stateside (oh, I hated Ft. Belvoir outside of D.C.), and we paraded if there was a big change of command. But, truly, I only remember these as a harried enlisted man would: inspection after inspection, pre-dawn lining up, hungry and sullen, boots and buckles shined and shined, for no other purpose than to keep us busy, and to help us practice singing under our breath the Mickey Mouse theme song (M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E...), Mickey and his music being the ultimate insult to all the worthless efforts to make our lives miserable, to keep some unidentified general smiling).

It was supposedly all a part of the discipline which is, truly, an important part of military preparedness (tell that to us while we suffered the inanity). For most of history this regimen of cleaning uniforms and inspecting equipment, the discipline of tightly forming for battle, and the espirit de corps of combat brotherhood was essential. Perhaps the complaining of the troops was as endemic in my 20th century as it was for Caesar's legionnaires, and throughout military/human history: soldiers will always complain, and they probably had their own Roman or Greek equivalent to the Mickey Mouse theme song. Spelling out the name might have been confusing in Latin, though; Roman numerals: would M-I-C denote a legion's numeric designation, or a rodent's first name?

In any case, parades and their attendant discipline and stupid repetitive preparations have their history, and their downside. We can all imagine the British redcoats (so disciplined!!) in tight formation, brass a-shine in the morning sunlight, waiting for orders to move in formation, load, aim and fire their muskets in practiced drill, while their American counterparts disdained order and drill, picking the Brits off from behind trees and stone walls, laughing at the discipline and order, and the disdain of marching orders remains. This enlisted man thumbs his nose, figuratively, at the pomp and splendor which so disrupted the desire to just get through the military day and actually get to do the job I was trained to do; the inspections and marching were always at the top of the list of perceived stupidity. (M-I-C, K-E-Y...)

But now, to the present. The President supposedly loved the parade that the French put on last year for his state visit. (Diversionary question: How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?? Answer: No one knows. It's never been done). I am trying to imagine the American military marching down Pennsylvania in sufficient numbers to be impressive. How many divisions with 10,000 men and women, plus supporting units?? Besides the 3rd Division Old Guard, there are no large military units within hundreds of miles of Washington D.C. How many tanks, armored vehicles, artillery pieces and missile battalions would really make a parade that would make Trump and his generals smile?

The parade that 'ended' our Civil War in 1865 lasted two days, yes I said two days. Day one, the Army of the Potomac, Day Two Sherman's 'Western Army'. But we have only had parades to celebrate victories, haven't we? And I am as sincere and heart-thumpingly patriotic and America-loving as any of you, but I'm not aware of too many victories since August 1945. To me, the last 'victory' was the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and that wasn't a military victory, it was due to a bankruptcy of value and morals of the communist regimes that had threatened Liberty for so long. The peace dividend lasted about as long as our 'victory' in Iraq, or perhaps as long as the continuing war in Afghanistan.

But, more to the point, this parade being proposed is something more worrisome: it is being posited as a way to show pride in our military at a time when words are cheap, and morale is at an all-time low. The reality is that much of America will say 'Thank you for your service' but in reality offer no real support for our men and women in uniform. The military has been pushed to the background while it serves in 130 countries (yes, that many) but getting adequate funding for training, fuel for vehicles and planes, and most importantly of all, funding for their physical and emotional issues during and following service is a constant congressional battle that becomes a sad yearly farce: more military members are killed in training (due to lack of readiness) than killed in combat, due to inadequate funding for the 'less sexy' items, more basic and less glamorous than Abrams tanks and M-16s. And we are still dealing with (oblivious to, I might correct myself) the double digit daily suicide rate of present and former military members due to criminal lack of funding for the Veteran's Administration.

But, they say, let's have a huge parade of men, women and equipment to show respect for our military. You know, military parades have been a staple of Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang and Havana, as well as tin horn dictatorships in South America, Asia and Africa. The opportunity for dictators and strongmen to thump their chests and salivate at their military might, while their countries' stated principles are bereft of human virtue and the glory of freedom and tenets of democratic rule. Our strength, as the bastion of freedom in the world (evidenced by the two World Wars, with parades of victory and freedom) has been tested and found powerful by not only our military prowess, overwhelming production of war machinery, and most importantly by the virtue and underlying talents and beliefs of the American fighting men and women. Our true victories were won by our citizens who volunteered and fought for freedom, virtue, and courage of conviction and the honor of hopefully returning home to a country that valued them, valued freedom and democratic ideals. And died for those ideals, too.

We don't need to imitate every other dictator's version of strength; we need to honor our military men and women with adequate funding not only for the best equipment in the world, machinery and ammunition to defend those ideals in our own home, but also generous care for their physical and emotional needs and health during and after their service, which sadly and criminally have been lacking since the anti-military sixties (and still persists today). Our American power is still projected throughout the world, hopefully as the world power we were prior to and following the fall of the obscene Berlin Wall. We are still threatened, but not just externally. We are threatened as well by a lack of moral support for these men and women which no parade will mitigate or eliminate.

A parade of epic proportions (and gazillions of dollars) will not provide that support. It will only give generals and their minions (and civilian leaders) a chance to thump their chests without looking at what's really needed to defend our American values that haven't changed since the first shots at Lexington and Concord: the sense of purpose and honor and republican ideals that still thrive in the hearts and heartland. The hearts of America's men and women in uniform are proud. Rightfully so.

Put the plans for a parade away: honor will not be found in a well-dressed formation of uniforms and equipment. We in uniform never really expected or received a parade; heck, we didn't know we were supposed to get one. We just wanted to do our duty, defend America, and come home. That didn't include marching down Pennsylvania Avenue.

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