Many are uncertain of the fruitfulness of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many are uncertain of the proper role of the military in American life. And some are even uncertain of the type of person who chooses to serve in the military. A common misperception about the men and women who join the military is that they are dumb, uneducated, racist and sexist homophobes who join the military so they can blow stuff up and perhaps get a shot at torturing someone at Abu-Ghraib, or because they have nowhere else to go – i.e., to make money. While some boys join for the wrong reasons, the trials of military life quickly weed most of them out of the ranks very quickly. You can get fired from the military.
The truth about those who serve:
The average service member enjoys an average IQ, but he or she is better educated than the average American.
A common military saying is that, “there are only two kinds of soldiers, ‘dark green’ and ‘light green,’ and we all bleed the same color.” In the military, everybody eats, sleeps, drinks, fights, cries, bleeds and dies together. There are no blacks, whites, or browns in such close quarters, there are only different shades of green. The armed forces desegregated sooner than most of America and “dark greens” enjoy a much higher standard of living and more advancement than their civilian counterparts.
There are more female generals/admirals (57) than there are female CEOs of major corporations (15). But females don’t fight on the front lines? Tell that to the women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Gays in the military” is a prickly issue, but note two things: first, it’s the extremists who get all of the attention and many service members don’t care what someone else does on their own time as long as they do their job well. “You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight,” a veteran once said. Second, it is these same service members we accuse of trashing gay rights who protect the basic rights that we all enjoy: the rights of free speech and a free press, and the right for two dudes to drive to Vermont and get hitched.
There are a few crazies who have served – the kind of freak who tortured cats as a child, the kind of person who joins the military to blow stuff up and legally kill people. There are far more crazies in the civilian world. Almost all who join do so to protect people, not hurt them.
Lastly, very few people join the military for the money. “You’re going to tell me how, when and where I sleep, eat, drink, dress, talk and work for the next few years? I get to shiver on distant mountaintops, sweat and bleed in the desert, and watch my best friend lose his hands every night for the rest of my life in tortuous nightmares? For $330 a week? Where do I sign?” They don’t do it for the money. It’s an honor thing.
And then there’s that one myth about veterans: that they are prone to violence and spousal abuse. This is a lie. While it is true that those who suffered the most severe forms of combat trauma in the Vietnam War were much more prone to violence and spousal abuse, a recent comprehensive study found that “veterans are in fact less likely to engage in an episode of domestic violence as compared to civilians with no previous military experience.” And many studies concur. The men and women who serve in uniform do a job that no one else will, fulfill a duty that has to be done and that few are willing to do, and they live a life that is honorable and decent. And some of us repay veterans by branding them as wife-beaters. The truth: If you are abusing your spouse, and you hear a loud banging on the door, then you’re toast, because that is probably a veteran knocking on your door who is about to take care of business.
Men and women who serve enjoy a life of honor, duty and excellence, but it is a hard life. They don’t do it for fun or for the money, and no one could argue that the choice to serve is the easy one. They serve because it’s the right thing to do and because they want to provide their fellow citizens with freedom and security. Thursday is Veterans Day. On that day, honor those who have served; honor those men and women who honor all of us every day, with every breath that they take. And grip close to your heart an honor for those men and women who served but never came home. They, more than anyone, deserve our honor. Of this, we can be certain.
Thad Jackson is a graduate student in finance.
