Memorial Day Thoughts. Counterintuitive to what people think, the role of the military is to PREVENT WAR. But if war is inevitable, then be ready to win.
Understanding Memorial Day
Memorial Day is when we honor our fallen men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. This is not a day of celebration, it's not a day to celebrate our troops who are alive today. It is a day to put our political or ideological differences aside and honor the legacy of those who afford us that opportunity to be free today.
Memorial Day dates back to May 30, 1868, post the American Civil War. In 1873 it was New York who first designated Memorial Day as a holiday, and it expanded by the late 1800 to other states. The holiday continues evolving until 1971 when Congress passed the “Monday Holiday Act” making the last Monday of May the National Holiday we are observing today.
It is also a time to remember that the USA is not alone in their fight against adversarial forces seeking to impose authoritarian regimes around the world – we have many allies who also fought and died for our freedom. This horror of battle is nothing new, sadly, it has been going on since the beginning of civilization. And it is often a relatively small percentage of the population who will fight for everyone else’s rights and pass this gift of freedom to the next generations.
Their legacy forged on sacrificing their own lives so others can have a better world. Today’s troops are composed of an all-voluntary force, it is not like on previous conflicts where people were often drafted to answer the call of duty. Yet, even when drafted they all fought with valor under often extremely precarious conditions, so we could not have to face a world of sustained horror.
As a Veteran myself, I cannot start to tell you how meaningful it is when we wear the cloth of our nation, and realize the legacy that was written in blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice that is allowing the current generation to serve as volunteers, to have that CHOICE to serve. A choice that for many of those who died was not afforded to them.
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Preventing War
I’ve said it before, an important role for the military is to prevent war. War is hell, not just for those in the front lines, but for everybody else caught on their clutches. Deterring an adversary from attacking us or destroying their will to fight and impose an authoritarian regime – that is what prevents war. That does not mean the adversary won’t try any potential way to gain advantage.
As the world becomes more and more unstable, the best way to honor the sacrifices of those who died in the line of duty is by paying attention to the world around us. That way their deaths won’t be in vain. The reason why we enjoy the freedom to even ignore their sacrifice was because they sacrificed to give that freedom to us. I cannot think of anything more insulting than to take somebody’s suffering and sacrifice for granted. And as I said, an effective way to honor them is by understanding the reasons for their sacrifice.
Today we are being bombarded by misinformation and propaganda that is specifically designed to negate their sacrifice. More and more people repeat verbatim adversarial talking points which destroy our cohesion as a nation. The adversary knows that if we are divided, then they can hit us as softer targets. But the attacks have already started against us. Although, they are not kinetic – yet.
Their attacks focus on making us forget and take for granted the freedom we have. Make us believe that a conflict like those who fought and died won’t happen again. There is no shortage of armed conflicts around the world, and many of those embroiled in that conflict today also thought this nightmare was not going to happen to them.
Regardless of your political leanings, my wish is that we understand the meaning of their sacrifice, understand what we are taking for granted, and honor their deaths by keeping alive the legacy of freedom they left for us. And of course, realize that the adversarial forces are looking forward to downplaying, spin, or deny the meaning of their sacrifice. I hope everyone has a meaningful Memorial Day. HLC