{"id":435,"date":"2015-05-25T17:41:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T23:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journeyinstitute.org\/blog\/?p=435"},"modified":"2015-05-25T17:41:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T23:41:52","slug":"honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/2015\/05\/25\/honor\/","title":{"rendered":"Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20150525_165954\"<\/a>I read a blog<\/a>\u00a0today\u00a0on The Washington Post. \u00a0It’s by a Veteran and why he hates ‘Happy Memorial Day’.
\nIn the post he says\u00a0“I\u2019m frustrated by Memorial Day. And I\u2019m angry about apathy.” \u00a0He also says he doesn’t want to be ‘thanked for his service’ and he’s angry about what Memorial Day has come to mean. \u00a0As he put it,<\/p>\n

\n

“we\u2019ve turned it into a day off work, a tent sale and a keg of beer.”<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And he’s right.<\/p>\n

I completely understand his anger and frustration; and while I agree with him, I’d like to offer another point of view.<\/p>\n

Long ago, it seems another lifetime ago sometimes, I was a Flight Commander in the 8th Air Force, 2nd Bombardment Wing, Honor Guard; Strategic Air Command (I told you it was a long time ago, SAC doesn’t even exist anymore).<\/p>\n

I served during the first Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm. \u00a0That was the first of the ‘new’ wars, the kind we watched virtually live on tv. \u00a0The kind that CNN updated round the clock with reporters in the field broadcasting from cell phones and sat phones.<\/p>\n

People then didn’t know what to make of the war, why we were fighting it, and how quickly it was over, sort of.
\nNo one stopped us to ‘thank us’ for our service. \u00a0Nor were we persecuted like those returning from Vietnam. \u00a0We were, for the most part, simply ignored.<\/p>\n

For five years I served on an elite Honor Guard. \u00a0Our training was born from training we had received by the ‘Presidential USAF Honor Guard’ and while we might not have been as elite as they were we did our best to uphold that standard.<\/p>\n

I attended and presided over more funerals than I can count. \u00a0At least once a week, sometimes twice, sometimes three and four times a week, we performed funeral ceremonies for military personnel in the 5 state region we covered. \u00a0All branches. \u00a0I honored their service and sacrifice whether in times of battle or simply after a long life of service, every week. \u00a0My team laid to rest retirees, active duty, and members of the military who had served in WWII.<\/p>\n

So while I understand the posters anger and frustration, I would also like to\u00a0say that whether the population at large honors them the same way those of us in the military do or not isn’t the point. \u00a0I marched in a Memorial Day parade today, the first since my days on the Honor Guard, and although I wasn’t representing veterans, the streets were lines with patriotic Americans, waving flags, and clapping for the Military whenever it marched or drove by.<\/p>\n

They may not have known someone personally who passed away, but they paid their respects just the same. \u00a0Standing and clapping for the older Veterans in the procession. \u00a0Holding signs of remembrance.
\nIn some ways, I’m glad they weren’t all at the cemeteries. \u00a0It would have spoiled the sanctity of the resting places with over 10,000 people traipsing through.<\/p>\n

If American’s want to honor Memorial Day with a day off work, a barbecue, and a drink who am I to say it’s wrong. \u00a0The freedom for them to do so was what the fight was all for after all.<\/p>\n

Yes, we could all do more to pay our respects to\u00a0the fallen. \u00a0I hope that at some point those who remember teach those who don’t and that it passes on to the next generation. \u00a0At the same time, I hope people still ‘thank you for your service’ when they see you in uniform. \u00a0I hope they recognize the sacrifices made by those who died, and those who survived, not to mention the families who sometimes sacrifice in silence. \u00a0I cannot speak for all Veterans, only this one. \u00a0I have attended far too many funerals to want the country to spend a day in mourning.<\/p>\n

Let us salute\u00a0the fallen. \u00a0Remember the lost. \u00a0Honor all.\u00a0 By whatever method and in whatever way you see fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read a blog today on The Washington Post. It’s by a Veteran and why he hates ‘Happy Memorial Day’.
\nIn the post he says “I\u2019m frustrated by Memorial Day. And I\u2019m angry about apathy.” He also says he doesn’t want to be ‘thanked for his service’ and he’s angry about what Memorial Day has come to mean. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devjourneyinstitute.com\/ji\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}