Thursday, November 12, 2009
Veterans Day Conversation
A conversation last night at the Press Club bar contrasted the acclaim accorded Iraq/Afghanistan veterans compared with the disdain in some quarters in the past for Vietnam veterans. The coverage yesterday noted it. What is behind this welcome development? Some hypotheses were the policy of embedding journalists with combat units so reporters grew to identify with soldiers, the shock of 9/11 creating a public willingness to fight back, and the evil of Saddam Hussein.
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I think that the draft may have had a lot to do with the difference in attitude. Young men in 1967, at the height of the Viet Nam War, were consumed with the prospect of being called when their number came up. Today, with the all volunteer military, general society can be comfortable knowing that "they" will take care of the fighting. The military enlisted men today tend to be from a certain class of American society and much of the more elite elements of our citizenry are not connected to them on a meaningful level.
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