Veterans Day is actually every day
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Give me Liberty
Rodger Williamson
I am a veteran of the Cold War, Desert Storm, War on Terrorism, and Iraq. I am the father of an Afghanistan veteran. I am the son of a Vietnam veteran. I am a grandson to two World War Two veterans. I am a great-grandson to Spanish-American War and Philippines Insurrection veterans. I am a great x2 grandson to an Indian Wars veteran, and a great x3 grandson to five Confederate and one Union Civil War veterans.
The military affiliation in my family tree continues with two veterans of the Mexican War and two veterans of the War of 1812, all the way back to seven veterans of the American Revolution, and from there, back to my first American veteran ancestor in Colonial Jamestown, in the Colony of Virginia.
As a veteran, most all (all except for my Confederate ancestors who swore to their individual states) once swore in our oath that we would “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and that we would “bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” That oath has no expiration date.
As I write this, the eleventh day of the eleventh month is still a couple of days away. When this appears in “The Coosa County News,” it will have been “yesterday.” … Most of us call this day “Veterans Day,” but it was originally born as “Armistice Day,” marking the end of hostilities of the Great World War of 1914-1918. This Thursday the eleventh of November, 2021, is the 103rd observance of a day to recognize America’s military veterans and their sacrifices made to keep our nation free.
The last time that the United States officially declared that we as a nation were at war was on the eighth of December of 1941. Since the end of World War Two, more than 100,000 U.S. military service members have given their lives in undeclared wars in places all around the globe, that are NOT the United States, and for those that managed to survive without getting shot or blown up, after returning from their service in an un-declared war, we lose on average 22 veterans a day to suicide, because they were unable to handle the psychological damage that the extreme hardships of war can do to a person.
I, as a veteran, want to know what benefits did “we the people” gain when government opted to ignore our Constitution and sacrifice the lives of our bravest. We lost 11 personnel in Iraq in 2020; why were U.S. troops still there in harm’s way 3 years after our official pull-out from our 14-year war there?
We lost 13 personnel earlier this year on our way out of Afghanistan, after almost 20 years there. Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, so why did we stay in Afghanistan after that; why was our withdrawal so disastrous, and what did it benefit our nation to stay so long, to only quit because we couldn’t win?
We have lost 81 personnel in Syria since 2014, and we still have troops there. I want to know when did Syria attack the United States, and why have U.S. troops been there for the last 7 years, when Congress has not declared “war” with Syria?
I ask these questions, because I do not want to see my brothers in arms sacrificed needlessly. You should ask these questions, because you are paying for it, and if you are not the primary beneficiary of your tax dollars being spent, then who is benefiting from your money?
It is my challenge to you the reader to make every day “Veterans Day” by doing all within your capabilities to make their past sacrifices worthwhile, and to keep our elected politicians from sending our currently serving military personnel into harms way for any reason that doesn’t specifically protect these 50 united states.