John Milton, in his poem, "On His Blindness", wrote the famous line, "They also serve who only stand and wait." He wrote it about himself after going blind and about how God could use even the disabled to do whatever God had in mind. The idea has been carried over, of course, to a broader sense. The idea is that it is not merely the "front line" that are serving.
Memorial Day is the day we honor those who gave their life for their country, but this is something different. This is the day we honor veterans. Now, almost everyone I know thinks of a "veteran" as someone who served in combat arenas. "Did you serve in Vietnam or Desert Storm or Iran or Afghanistan? Then you're a veteran." And it is true that these folks are veterans. Typically forgotten every day of the year, this one included, are those who "stand and wait."
Non-combat veterans make up the vast majority of veterans that served in the military. Those who have served "in harm's way" deserve great honor. Those who have died serving this country deserve great honor. And perhaps the magnitude they deserve is what outshines this particular group of unsung heroes, the non-combat veterans. I heard a statistic (that I can't find to back up) that for every combat soldier there are 12 others behind him (or her these days) in support roles for him/her. They do administrative work, keep records, make sure they get paid, repair equipment, provide food, supplies, and whatever else is needed, offer intelligence reports, give spiritual guidance, operate computers ... it is a long list. Twelve to one. Somehow, in our vague thinking, those 12 get ignored and the one gets attention (if any of them get attention). And I would like to suggest that they also served who only stayed behind and fed them and housed them and clothed them and supplied them and ... you get the idea. What front-line fighter pilot could face the dangers of his job without an army of troops maintaining his aircraft? What Marine platoon could go into dangerous territory without a host of support to give them ammunition, direction, fire support, medical care, and the rest? And none of this includes the support of non-military military spouses who stay behind and support their military combat or non-combat spouses.
Much of the freedom we enjoy today is a product of military might. That quite obviously includes those who stood on the front lines in harm's way to obtain our liberties and protect our country. But it also includes those who held them up there, who supported them, who made their efforts possible and effective. On this Veterans' Day, be sure to thank a combat veteran when you find one. But you might also want to show some gratitude to their far-more-numerous non-combat support structure who also served. These, too, are veterans worthy of your thanks.
4 comments:
Thank you for this, Stan.
I went into the Army right out of high school in June 1970, and remained in until the end of Feb 1975. I was trained as a Combat Engineer, but had also asked for jump school. At then end of our engineer class, those who were not going to jump school went to Vietnam. Those of us who chose to go to jump school ended up being assigned to a unit at Ft. Bragg, NC which could no longer perform its mission of building forward airstrips for the USAF due to so many of their personnel being sent to Vietnam. I remained with that unit, which never deployed during my tenure, until I left the service. (Since that time they have deployed many times).
After leaving service I was usually treated as a 2nd-class veteran because I didn't' go to war. It has only been recently that veterans - whether combat experienced or "holding the fort" - are being given recognition. I think it is about time.
I served in a similar capacity in the Air Force. To this day most people, hearing what I did for 10 years while serving my country, will say, "You're not a veteran because you never went overseas" or something very similar. I suppose I've heard it often enough that it has seeped into my own brain. I didn't write this to ask for thanks. I wrote it to correct my thinking.
And thanks for your service, Glenn.
And thanks for YOUR's! :oD
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