Understanding the United States Military Veteran
Deborah Venable
05/09/09
More
than any other group of people, military veterans have the propensity for a
shared mindset about most things. After
having made this statement, I must immediately include a disclaimer, but it is
the last one for the rest of this little essay. People are still individuals and as such there will always be
exceptions, but this is my personal opinion about what makes these
extraordinary people tick.
From
what authority do I speak you might ask.
I am a woman who has been privileged to know many veterans in my
lifetime and to see the inter workings of the military as it was and as it is
today.
The
first veteran I ever knew was my own father.
He served in the U.S. Army in the time period between the “great wars”
as a cook no less. He was barely too
young for World War I and too old for World War II, but would have gladly
served his country in either. He went
from being a content young farmer helping to take care of his large family by
dropping out of school after completing the eighth grade, to a great thinker
after his stint in the army. He was one
of the most intelligent men I ever knew – even with his limited formal education. He read extensively, and held much of what
he read in his enormous memory. He
could quote Bible passages and Shakespeare with equal accuracy, and he loved
the great poets. Long before I could
read, I held some of his memories embodied in the beautiful cadence of his
powerful deep voice.
He
taught me well the one lesson that has stayed with me always – “never allow
yourself to be intimidated by anyone on earth.”
The
next veteran I knew up close and personal was a wounded survivor of World War
II, my dear uncle. He was my mother’s
younger brother. He was a member of the
United States Navy CBs, and was wounded in hand-to-hand combat by a bayonet
that nearly severed his spine. Though
he was spared paralysis, he never took a step after that without intense
pain. I remember his limp and his smile
till the day he died. He had been a
little hellion as a youngster, but became a devout and peaceful Christian
soldier after the experience of military service.
Fast
forward to my own era – my own war – Vietnam.
My brother enlisted in the Navy, and there he met my future
husband. My brother saw a chunk of that
war up close and personal from the behind the scenes venue of White House
communications, where he served in a technical capacity for Nixon. Just passing the intense scrutiny for him to
get there was a huge eye opener for all of us about how politics and the
military work to protect the highest office in the land. My brother had a temperament much like my
father in that his military experience added a depth to his thinking. He, too, maintained that one of a kind smile
for the rest of his life.
My
husband started out his military service in the Navy in a technical capacity
also. Serving on ships, working on many
of the submarines of that era, he landed in Vietnam during the intensity of
that “overseas contingency operation.”
To say that he was not affected by what he saw over there would be as
big a stretch of the truth as the new name for war. To say that I was not affected by my own experiences during that
time would be a lie.
We
had friends who did not return. We had
friends who were adversely affected for the rest of their lives. We bore the brunt of the peaceniks’ attacks
on returning veterans. During the times
when the guys flew in uniform, we saw the vicious attacks up close and
personal. It was the biggest shame
visited upon military veterans in this country since the Civil War.
By
far the most valuable thing my husband took away from his military experience
was the training he received to become what he would always be for the rest of
his life – a teacher. As I’ve said
before, he could reach those previously unreachable young people and set them
on a path to success they would have otherwise never known. That was his gift and it was enhanced by his
military training. That did not come
from a university classroom.
There
is an unspoken language that communicates among military veterans. Most of today’s society is unaware of it and
unwilling to try to understand it. Many
are in awe of military heroes and God bless them for their support and respect
for what they do. But to feel the real
compassion for the heart of a soldier, you must seek a greater understanding of
their job – their real job of preserving the best that this country is and
has. Their job does not allow them to
dwell on their own experiences if they are to fulfill their obligations while
being able to manage the rest of their lives in peace.
Most
real veterans that I have known do not wish to share their experiences except
in a superficial manner - isolated incidents that do not betray their common
trust. They are trained to do what they
do in defense of each other and the greater good of getting them home alive. Many of them have lofty ideals of preserving
freedom by giving up their own for a period of time, but they are trained never
to be intimidated. Just as my father
taught me, intimidation has no place in a soldier’s life. This training, unlike my own, is facilitated
by introducing them to extreme intimidation, and then allowing them the luxury
to rise above it if they can.
Compare
that to the liberal education one receives on a college campus, or sadly these
days, in classrooms of younger and younger students. Brow beating does not come close to describing the tools of
modern education. Even the military has
succumbed to some of these practices, for today’s military bares little
resemblance to that of just a few decades ago.
Most veterans who have endured great hardship
or achieved heroic acts will tell you that when push came to shove, it was
their training that allowed them to endure and achieve. The most admired and respected military
leaders are those who were “in the trenches” at some point themselves and
earned their own respect.
I
have heard it said that most young folks who join the all volunteer military
today do, not for what they can do for their country, but rather what their
country will do for them in the form of educational benefits and such. It is a fool’s calling to believe this. These young folks are well aware before they
ever affix their signatures to the final enlistment paper exactly what the
risks are to their lives, whether or not they conveniently forget that part
later. Only a handful will enlist for
the wrong reasons.
The
United States military community is unlike any other on earth. Veterans are unique people. They do not all come away with one political
mind, but most do come away with a branded soul dedicated to pursuing decency
in their personal endeavors if only given the chance. It is dangerous and foolish to single out military veterans with
false suspicions of their negative intent for society. Many of my very best friends in the world
are military veterans, and I take particular offense to anyone, especially the
government they served, maligning their reputations.
A
little understanding can go a long way, but false witness is an undeniable
sin. Intimidation is something that
will never fly in a country that remembers the cost of freedom. While much of the liberal public wrings its
hands over the issue of torture of our known enemies, perhaps they should stop
and think about the consequences of allowing their governmental departments of
security to play the intimidation card on some of the finest people in America.
We
are all veterans of our own experiences, but military veterans have already
“put up” so they should not be called on to “shut up” and shut out that which
makes them unique – their priorities for patriotic brotherhood.
Please
see this poem I wrote some time ago for more understanding
of the military veteran.