A good friend of mine, who matriculated with me in college on the subject of foreign affairs, became a reporter at Congressional Quarterly 20-odd years ago and has kept to it since. He is a reserved guy, not at all given to hyperbole. Often, one has to yank his opinions out like an impacted molar. That’s why I remember our conversation in late afternoon of 9/11 so well. We talked awhile about what to expect in the coming days and so forth, how long preparations would take for some sort of military campaign, which just hours after the attack was already not an if but when. Near the end of our talk I said something like “nothing is going to be the same…” To which he emphatically agreed, and added “this is going to change everything” Indeed it did.
Since 9/11, war without end has cost us much blood and treasure, while ruthlessly baring the limits of US power. But even more damaging, it has facilitated a steady slide toward militarism at home, now fully embraced and accentuated by an emergent nihilist political class, led by a champion who never met a uniform he didn’t want to exploit for his own greater glory.
How societies define patriotism speaks volumes of their political and cultural health. Militarism is apparent when the armed forces, as well as police, are unabashedly used as measuring sticks to divide the population based on who is and isn’t supportive enough of their “mission”, which is heralded in ever more grandiose terms.
The NFL was the first and most ardent practioner of linking the US response to 9/11 with over-the-top displays of reverence for the military. Flyovers, field-sized flag rollouts, reunions, etc. turned pre-game activities into garish homage to our military, the oft declared ensurer of “the freedoms we enjoy.” Is it little wonder that NFL games became a flashpoint for conflict when some players had the treacherous audacity to disturb what had become viewed by so many as a sacred rite of American civics.
Unquestioned allegiance to the military flows seemlessly throughout America now. Increases in the military budget are a bipartisan given, and woe to the candidate, who has to go on the stump and explain voting against such appropriations. Media across the board herald the narrative of US military activity as an exclusive adjunct of freedom and liberty. Judy Woodruff and Chuck Todd are just as likely to parrot the notion as Brett Beir and Sean Hannity. Reports of collateral damage from US air and drone strikes seldom see the light of day, and the idea that enlisting immediately makes one a hero is another sacred cow of our national mentality. Moreover, military service has never before bestowed such exclusivity. Back in high school it was a thing to wear natty old army jackets; now the unfortunate stoner who adopted such garb would be set upon for “Stolen Valor”. From A to Z America places it’s military on a pedestal that grows higher and higher.
Much of what has defined the post 9/11 narrative of how we should view the military springs from assumptions enshrined by the past. The common wisdom that Vietnam veterans were disdained by an ungrateful nation has guided us since 9/11. An unspoken determination not to repeat past mistakes with an all volunteer force has created a cultural landscape, fully exploited by Madison Avenue, where effusive praise is mandatory. “Thank you for your service” now is deemed a minimum courtesy when meeting a veteran. And the synergy between the church and military service has never been more prominent. Evangelicals, in particular, now seem to place US soldiers just under the lord himself as objects worthy of the flock’s rapturous entreaties.
None of this is to imply we shouldn’t be a grateful nation. Veterans, like my nephew, who made a beeline for Afghanistan, have earned our deep respect. Should serving boost a resume? Without a doubt. Should we assume integrity and honor from a veteran? Of course. And should we always be cognizant that service brings a unique perspective to the table that one would disqualify his own views by ignoring? No question. But it is to say that America’s uniqueness rests largely on what is supposed to be a more balanced set of priorities. National well being is not supposed to rely too much on the prospects of our armies. And our military serves us, not vice versa. Nothing is compulsory; the day it becomes so is the day our enemies outside no longer matter.
On Memorial Day weekend, when we honor the fallen, our duty is the same as theirs was, to defend the country. Not just its borders or foreign interests, but its character, which enables our freedoms far more than tanks in Mosul. To abide seditious idolatry, fomented to further the ambitions of nihilists, at the expense of groups they always seek to marginalize in a quest for relevance, dishonors the memories of heroes. Surely, they would take offense that they passed to serve such a purpose. To assume otherwise insults them.
Trump and all the other chicken hawks we know so well cheapen past sacrifice by their willingness to ignore it as they recklessly rattle sabres. He vomits about US military prowess, relegating those who may die to mere abstractions in excursions he sees as sport, corollaries to his bluster. He neither honors the institution or its people; like everything else, he uses them to shine his brand. He deploys our jingoism for self-aggrandizement to a base that makes no distinction between patriotism and militarism, national well being and foreign adventures. That so many now can’t see duty to your nation as anything other than carrying a gun and wearing a uniform imperils our future and diminishes our dead.
The best thing America can do for its fallen soldiers is everything possible to ensure the rightness and nobility of the mission they perished for. Make certain they never die like a German fighter on Normandy…in service to a nation gone mad. Right now we are ceding ground in that battle. BC