Veterans Day – 2023

I hope you are enjoying Veterans Day, and the freedom we have in our country! I’m proud – and grateful – to be among the 16.2 million living veterans in the United States, and I am thankful for those incredible people who served before, during and after my time in service.

In his Proclamation, the President Biden said:

This Veterans Day, we honor the generations of women and men who have served and sacrificed — not for a person, a place, or a President — but for an idea unlike any other: the idea of the United States of America. For nearly 250 years, our veterans have defended the values that make us strong so that our Nation could stand as a citadel of liberty, a beacon of freedom, and a wellspring of possibilities.

(Just as a quick reminder, Veterans Day is intended to honor all veterans while Memorial Day is intended to commemorate those who have died in the service). 

Sadly, however, it is hard to escape the grim news: the media reports that the “US is mounting a frantic effort to head off a wider Middle East war” while at the same time experts are also telling us that the “United States must prepare for possible simultaneous wars with Russia and China”…and then there is also North Korea. 

It seems like that axiom —“only the dead have seen the end of war”-has never been more true.  We need to accept that even as we celebrate today’s veterans, events will create the need for more to serve–and become veterans–in the years to come.  As John Stuart Mill observed:

As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”

Who will “do battle” for us in the future?  Last year, I discussed the military’s recruiting difficulty in recruiting, and that problem seems to persist (except for the Marines).  However, service chiefs do say the “numbers look great” with respect to retaining those who do join.

Why?  Sean Rowe, Duke Law’s  Strategic Communication Manager, asked veterans at the Law School to reflect on their careers, and you may find some of the answers in their comments.  Note: Sean’s project can be seen on a variety of social media platforms:

Twitter/X – https://x.com/DukeLaw/status/1723099936747823584?s=20; Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/dukelaw/posts/832403662225660; LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7128859516376403968; and Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/p/CzezeDKPzSR/?img_index=1

My own reflection was this:

A family heirloom needlepoint that hangs in our home carries the famous John F. Kennedy quote “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”  Those words have had a huge impact on my life and explains much of why I served. 

Military service isn’t for everyone, but I know I wouldn’t trade mine for anything!  Of course, it can make demands without a counterpart in civilian life…but it rewards with unique experiences and friendships that make it all worthwhile.  I am thankful to have had the privilege to serve the country in uniform, and I am grateful for the freedoms and opportunities veterans have fought to preserve.

Like many of my generation, I had no intention of making the military a career when I began to fulfill my ROTC commitment in 1976 but Kennedy’s words really did resonate with me, and I believed I needed to serve, at least for a time. 

Over time, the travel, the adventure, the variety of practice challenges and, especially, the people, also became powerful incentives to stay.  As I look back, being part of something larger than myself, and having the honor to serve with others who thought likewise, kept me in uniform for almost three and a half decades.

I also think that almost every veteran would point to their family. They may not be “veterans” in some technical sense, but the reality is that they also serve–and sacrifice.  One of the key reasons America has the most powerful military in the world is because so many of its members have the support of their families.

Let me close with this from the President’s proclamation:

This Veterans Day, may we honor the incredible faith that our veterans hold, not just in our country but in all of us. They are the solid-steel backbone of our Nation, and we must endeavor to continue being worthy of their sacrifices by working toward a more perfect Union and protecting the freedoms that they have fought to defend.

 

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