"Slim sacrifice Veterans and 'Yellow Ribbon Patriotism"-Grand Forks Herald

[laststeamtrain]

Slim sacrifice Veterans and 'Yellow Ribbon Patriotism'
Speaker: Vets programs suffer while most live untouched by war
By Paulette Tobin
Herald Staff Writer

Despite the horrible price being paid by American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lives of most Americans are disconnected from the war in a way that has personal and political implications for veterans, the Grand Forks Veterans Day program speaker said.

"Can you remember a period of war that has asked so little of the American people?" said Mike Dobmeier, a national judge advocate for the Disabled American Veterans and past national commander.

Grand Forks' annual Veterans Day program was held at the Veterans Memorial on the lawn of the Grand Forks County Courthouse. Warm weather and sunny skies made it one of the best attended Veterans Day programs in years, organizers said.

In his speech, Dobmeier referred several times to a Joe Klein column published Aug. 21 in Time magazine, "The Danger of Yellow Ribbon Patriotism," in which Klein described a dinner he had with a military officer back from combat in Iraq. The officer told Klein:

"I lost five lieutenants in a year. I collected body parts. I don't know how I'll ever get over that. And you get the feeling that the rest of the country doesn't understand. They're not a part of this. It's peacetime America and a few of us are at war."

The disconnect is more than the distance that exists when any war veteran returns to civilian society, Dobmeier said. Today, a small percentage of American families have members in the service, and, for them, the war is a constant worry. But for most American families, it's a far different experience, he said.

"War has been something that happens on television," he said.

The disconnect has a political side, too, he said. Political leaders are good at patriotic displays, but their words haven't been backed by action, he said.

"We must not mince words about this," he said. "At one and the same time, our government is conducting two wars abroad and shortchanging veterans programs at home."
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/13148514.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

[havocmom]

1. Very insightful and important

Thank for posting this, laststeamtrain. Gonna bookmark the editorial as I think it raises some good points. Will come in handy to get serious converstaions going.

[Boo Boo]

2. Yellow Ribbon Patriotism...

I call them "Paper Flag Patriots." Print it out on your inkjet printer; tape that thing in the rear window of your SUV: "Hey, look at me! I'm supportin' the Troops!"