APATHY and the Wars

While doing background research for my recent article, Why are Veterans and Wars off the Political Radar?, I ran across this opinion piece, on the Goals for Americans website titled, “WAR AND APATHY: The Shameful indifference many Americans feel about The Iraq War.”

This was part of my inspiration to write an updated article on APATHY of the American people towards the continued occupation of Iraq and escalation of war in Afghanistan. APATHY also includes government leaders [politicians] who make the decisions to send our troops into harms way that is quite evident in by the November 2010 Congressional elections where all political parties running candidates have successfully maneuvered the wars off the political radar at least until Veterans Day.

Here are some excerpts from WAR AND APATHY.

Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, GS-14, U.S. Civil Service-Retired, Veterans Issues Editor, VT News Network

WAR AND APATHY: The Shameful indifference many Americans feel about  War.

The opinion piece that appears on the Goals for Americans website begins by comparing the Ken Burns PBS documentary about World War Two, “THE WAR” that reflects the near total commitment of the American people to shared sacrifice in the war effort compared to the apathy and lack of commitment of Americans in September 2007.

Readers that was over three years ago. However as I read on, it became very apparent to me that this author could be writing the same concerns today, so I take it upon myself to do an update on American Apathy to Wars.

Without repeating the praises for Burn’s work “THE WAR” for readers can get that from the original source, I will focus on those comparative aspects that apply today as we approach November 2010.

Most notably, in “THE WAR,” Burns framed his work around the families who gave up their son and daughters to the conflict. Burns gave us an intimate portrait of how the war turned the lives of American families upside down.  In so doing, he not only told the story of this great and terrible world war, but the greatest service Ken Burns has shown to viewers is the total cost of that war at home.

Despite political and propaganda rhetoric to the contrary, the total cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars here at home have been embarrassingly minimal except for a precious few exploited and abuse volunteers. Compare to the images of the greatest generation enduring the war that continues to convince that precious few to continuing accepted the inequitable burdens of war the election of 2010 affirms beyond a doubt that not only are our politicians (most who have never served or refused to serve) and the American electorate could care less about the wars or the Veterans who fight and die in them until they need a political photo op or need to exploit and scam our patriotic volunteers to continue the fight for the rest of us who refuse to commit to shared sacrifice let alone win any war regardless how pitched to the FEW VOLUNTEERS.

Nope, despite the rhetoric and propaganda that Our Troops need to stay the course as did the greatest generation of warriors and their families is nothing but a smoke screen for abusing, using, and exploiting Our Troops. The use and abuse of our National Guard and Reserves compared to Vietnam clearly shows just how much the American people and our leaders are not committed to shared sacrifice.

As World War Two raged across continents and great oceans, at home, the American people came together with a single focus, a shared commitment, and a sense of community that has never been equaled since then. Reality is that despite the 21st century rhetoric and propaganda to the contrary THE WAR was fought by Americans from all walks of life – city kids and farm boys, the educated and the illiterate, the rich and privileged as well as the working class. On the field of battle, they were all Americans, equals among equals with only only distinctions being military ranks.

WWII America galvanized the public behind a common goal of brutal simplicity – total victory on all fronts that could be defined. For that to happen, Burns shows us that American citizens [most of the U.S. population at the time] were fully engaged, involved, focused, resolute, patient, and willing to make the ‘shared sacrifices’ needed in their personal lives so that the war effort could be properly supported.

Yes, the warriors who brought us victory in World War Two have been called “The Greatest Generation.” But that honor equally belongs to the families and communities back home, for all the ‘shared sacrifices’ they were willing to endure in support of the war effort.  They were “The Greatest Generation of Citizens” because they put aside their private lives – their economic and unemployment concerns, dreams and ambitions – and dedicated their lives to the common purpose of winning the war.

Of course the degree of unemployment compared to today was unheard of for every able bodied citizen was employed in the war effort.

The American people should be ashamed compared to the pride felt by our country during WWII

Unfortunately, we cannot feel that same sense of pride in our country at the moment. The occupation of Iraq and escalation of war in Afghanistan has gone on longer than World War Two, but many Americans this election year can’t be bothered to notice!

Being informed and active American citizens has become an endangered way of life in many of our communities. Many of our neighbors have little or no serious understanding of the wars and how we got into them. And worse, far too many Americans aren’t even ashamed of their apathy, ignorance and indifference, even though the wars tower over all other issues facing our country.

In this sense, many of the sons and daughters of “The Greatest Generation,” and their children as well, have dishonored all of our fallen and wounded soldiers. Their apathy is an embarrassment that sullies the reputation of all Americans.

Far too many Americans go about their daily lives and pursue their ambitions, entertainments, routines, understandable concerns about our economy, the national deficit, and unemployment with little or no interest or serious understanding of the wars, or of Middle East or South West Asian history in general.

Many Americans are far too content to let the government tell them what to think and how to feel about the wars – the never ending rhetoric of the Global War on Terror. However, what is the difference between our 21st century global war and WWII?

The Exploitation of the All Volunteer (Exploited) Force to avoid THE DRAFT

Part of this national shame is explained by the fact that we have a voluntary military instead of a draft. A draft would have drawn service men and women from a wider pool of citizens, especially from the complacent middle and upper classes, but only if revisions in Selective Service that once allowed rich white boys to get out of the draft where monitored and enforced.

The primary resentment against the Vietnam Era draft was that it was inequitable compared to the WWII draft. Throw in the Vietnam War, Iraq War, and Afghanistan War, heck the Global War on Terror for that matter ARE NOT popular wars for our national survival has allowed the vast majority of our able bodied citizens from the wealthiest classes a get out of the wars free card.

Here in Beavercreek, Ohio where I reside there is no Armed Forces Recruiting Centers despite our community being made up largely of Air Force and other service retirees, but mostly Air Force. That said in my neighborhood only our family has a child committed to the wars.

If large numbers of young men and women from the comfortable suburbs like Beavercreek were drafted into the war – like they were during the Vietnam War – their parents would awaken from their private lives, apathy, and indifference  and quickly take notice. This readers would also be the only way that politicians who refuse to commit their families to war, and the mainstream media is going to put and keep the wars in focus and on the political radar.

If the sons and daughters of affluent suburbia were going to be driving the deadly roads of Iraq and patrolling the dangerous streets, their parents would discard their apathy and become active and agitated citizens over night – and that’s shameful in and of itself.

We as a people need to ask the hard question about WARS that we know our political leaders are too selfish to ask. These questions were raised during 2007 but remain just as valid today. In fact, if military families are not asking these hard questions then shame on us for allowing our families to be exploited and abused by politicians and the rest of America who remain apathetic and unwilling to relate to our burden sharing.

1. Have we as a people become so selfish and self-involved that something as horrible as war only engages our attention and passions if it comes to our own doorstep, or somehow disturbs our comfortable routines?

2. Do so many of our fellow citizens remain blissfully and intentionally ignorant of the war simply because it affects other people from other communities?

3. Do so many middle and upper class families [composed mostly of our political leaders and leaders of mainstream media] ignore the war because most of the soldiers who are dying, or suffering catastrophic injuries, come from the rural farming areas that feed America or working class neighborhoods [the closest Armed Forces Recruiting Center to Beavercreek is in working class Xenia, Ohio] – communities that our comfortable suburbs are more and more insulated from?

4. Have we become so fragmented as a country that the sufferings of one community don’t engage the sympathies of others?

Shame on ALL OF US for refusing to share sacrifice or at least stop the exploitation of 1% of our people by stopping the wars!

If these are the simple explanations, then shame on all of us. And shame on our leaders, who still seem unable or unwilling to call on all Americans to share the sacrifices that are being suffered daily for this misbegotten war in Afghanistan and occupation of Iraq.

Reinstatement of the Draft will either bring partial national shared sacrifice or End the Wars.

Our government refuses to consider reinstating the draft, even though the war is straining our military to the breaking point. And the government refuses to raise taxes to pay for the war, instead relying on an irresponsible borrow-and-spend policy that is producing a runaway national debt that future generations will have to pay off.

It is so ironic that as even the break away parties like the Tea Party or Constitution Parties tie their anger and frustration to the national deficit and government spending that the Pentagon budget and fiscal cost of the Global War on Terror are sacred cows to not be mentioned by any political party.

Our Government must either call on ALL AMERICANS to share in the burden of our Military Families or None of us should be committed to any war that does not have the full support and shared sacrifice of WE THE PEOPLE.

During World War Two, as “THE WAR” thoroughly documents, our government called on all Americans to share the burden and the pain.

Today, our government tries to keep this war as painless and invisible as possible for middle and upper class America, initially refusing permission for the media to show flag-draped coffins coming back from Iraq to attempts to control mainstream media via Pentagon propaganda.

Unless we wake up as a nation and become responsible citizens once again, historians will not be charitable about this war generation. We will have earned the scorn they will bestow on us all.

Lastly, the apathy of most Americans will roll down hill to impact how our Veterans are treated when they come Home to War from health care benefits to education and training benefits.

We know that for example there are those in the academic community (Veterans turned professors) who are lobbying for a bill to protext this generation of Veterans from discrimination for their part in their wars regardless what a Veterans views on their role in the wars happen to be.

That is another story we are working on, but suffice it to say tha APATHY impacts every aspect of how a Vet feels and reacts when he/she comes home to APATHY.

Robert L. Hanafin

Readers are more than welcome to use the articles I’ve posted on Veterans Today, I’ve had to take a break from VT as Veterans Issues and Peace Activism Editor and staff writer due to personal medical reasons in our military family that take away too much time needed to properly express future stories or respond to readers in a timely manner.

My association with VT since its founding in 2004 has been a very rewarding experience for me.

Retired from both the Air Force and Civil Service. Went in the regular Army at 17 during Vietnam (1968), stayed in the Army Reserve to complete my eight year commitment in 1976. Served in Air Defense Artillery, and a Mechanized Infantry Division (4MID) at Fort Carson, Co. Used the GI Bill to go to college, worked full time at the VA, and non-scholarship Air Force 2-Year ROTC program for prior service military. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1977. Served as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1977 to 1994. Upon retirement I entered retail drugstore management training with Safeway Drugs Stores in California. Retail Sales Management was not my cup of tea, so I applied my former U.S. Civil Service status with the VA to get my foot in the door at the Justice Department, and later Department of the Navy retiring with disability from the Civil Service in 2000.

I’ve been with Veterans Today since the site originated. I’m now on the Editorial Board. I was also on the Editorial Board of Our Troops News Ladder another progressive leaning Veterans and Military Family news clearing house.

I remain married for over 45 years. I am both a Vietnam Era and Gulf War Veteran. I served on Okinawa and Fort Carson, Colorado during Vietnam and in the Office of the Air Force Inspector General at Norton AFB, CA during Desert Storm. I retired from the Air Force in 1994 having worked on the Air Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon.