Why patriotism is important

Recently, a friend sent me a link for a news story about a group of Viet Nam veterans and other patriots who go out of their way to be at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to welcome home members of our armed forces returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. They do this because of the shameful reception the Viet Nam veterans were given when they returned. Many were spat upon, called baby killers and worse.

Watching the news story reminded me of a parade we were given in Tonopah, Nevada, after returning from DESERT STORM. The whole time it was happening, I was thinking about my brother and brother-in-law returning from Viet Nam and I was saying to myself, "Where were their parades?" Every time I think about how little I went through compared to what they experienced I just want to sit down and weep for this country.

I never heard incoming rounds whipping past my head, but they did. I never saw men from a sampan that my ship destroyed eaten by sharks, but they did. I never saw friends of mine injured or killed in the ports of Viet Nam or the Philippines. I was deployed once, for four months. My brother had two cruises of over 6 months each and 5 campaign stars. I don't know about my brother-in-law. He never talks about 'Nam. That's another difference.

I have no scars, physical or mental, from my wars. My brother still has nightmares and my brother-in-law never went back home after he and my sister married because it was too painful to see all the missing faces. I've kept thinking this whole time that those parades were so wrong. I'm no hero, but they are.

I am in no way saying that the experiences of all of our fighting men and women who have served in the Middle East were as easy as mine, far from it! Our personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen experiences very similar to the ones reported by Viet Nam veterans. IEDs, ambushes, and not being able to readily tell friend from foe or non-combatant all sound pretty similar to me. I am also not saying that the pilots in our unit didn't face the realities of combat. Everyone knows what a workhorse the Stealth Fighter was during Operation DESERT STORM.

What gets me is the disingenuous way the American public treats its war veterans. At the outset of this current conflict, public support seemed to be solidly behind our troops. Then the media worked away to undermine support for the war by undermining support for our Commander-in-Chief. If you don't think the two things are connected, take a look back at the the archived articles and see if the fall-offs in welcomes for returning troops didn't mirror the decreases in public confidence for President Bush. There is no way to support the troops if you don't support the war, people! Your opinions about the one will always affect or infect the way you feel about the other, and the stronger opinion will always prevail.

I think the way DESERT STORM veterans were welcomed had a lot to do with how people felt about the way that war worked out. Twenty-eight days is a lot more popular for a war's duration than six years. DESERT STORM was a media event. Every night there were new videos of targets being blasted to bits by guided bombs or missiles. The briefings from the Joint Operations Center were mostly entertaining, especially those done by the British officers and by General Schwartzkopf. These broadcasts all drew great ratings and were covered in a positive tone by our news media.

By contrast, after the initial few months of the latest foray into Iraq, most of the media coverage has focused on casualties. It's easy to bring a country to have nothing but distaste for a military action when all the news is about the latest IED or ambush. Strangely, this was the same tone the media adopted during the Viet Nam conflict. Very rarely were there any positive stories on the news concerning Viet Nam.

Maybe we should take another look at this whole thing. Maybe we will finally learn that our armed forces fight better when they know we're all behind them! A really great way to tell them that is by showing our support for the ones returning. (If you don't think the troops still in the danger zone are hearing about the type of welcome troops coming home are experiencing, you are sadly mistaken. In this internet age, they know within minutes.) Let's all see what we can do to show support for our returning troops! You don't have to go out to the airport. You can buy a soldier a cup of coffee or just make sure you tell them welcome home when you find out they have been to war. It doesn't matter which war. All veterans deserve at least that much!





MSgt Kenneth A Davy, USAF (Ret)