I know a little about the young men and women we send to fight our wars, just, unjust, and those classified as police actions. More specifically, I know a number of the war fighters we sent Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and a few from WWII and Korea. All served their nation and paid a price for so doing.
Those who serve are in no position to pick their war; they get picked for them. Whether large or small, just or unjust, the war in which they serve is their biggest one, even if some call it merely a police action. All who serve deserve our respect and thanks whether we support or oppose their war. If we have issues they need to be directed at the political aristocrats who picked the war and sent our troops to fight it. Our disgust and opposition should never be directed at the youngsters that were shipped abroad to expand their knowledge of geography in some other country.
I did not live in the USA during the Vietnam war; or was it a police action, I don't quite recall. I viewed it on television from another country and invested little of myself in supporting or opposing its purpose. I was however struck by the bile poured on the troops when they returned home after their service, as if a twenty something could in any way influence government policy. I was also struck by the volume of fervor heaped on troops returning from Iraq -- were the Iraq wars more just and the troops more deserving of a nation's praise?
My father volunteered for the army in September 1939. He was dispatched to France in early 1940 with a SMLE and 100 rounds of .303 to stop Hitler's conquest of Europe. A Seaforth, part of the 51st Highland Division, he first took up position near the Maginot Line. The German attack through Sedan was north of the 51st. They were redeployed a number of times finishing up on the west bank of the Seine estuary at St Valery sur Seine after the fall of Dunkirk and the evacuation of the BEF. Being the only UK division left in contact with the enemy in France, the 51st became a significant pawn in a larger political game. As the German army turned its attention away from their victory in the Low Countries and back to the battle for France, the 51st fought a rearguard action along the Channel coast, falling back toward their base of supply at the port of Le Havre. Meantime Churchill was reluctant to evacuate the 51st lest it resulted in a general collapse in France and a bilateral peace negotiation. As luck, and the fortunes of war, would have it the 51st were cut off from Le Havre by Rommel. Devoid of resupply and without ammunition, medical supplies, fuel or food, the 51st held fast at St Valery en Caux until capitulation became inevitable. In consequence my old bad spent the next five years as a POW, mostly in Poland at a city called Thorn by the Germans and Torun by the Poles. My purpose in telling you this is to observe that wen he came home it was not to a hero's welcome, nor was it to chants of "baby killer" and spittle. Hardly a ripple occurred. He was issued with back pay for his five years as a private soldier held by the Germans, given a rail pass home and 21 days leave before he was due to report back to the army. His advice to my brother and me deriving from his experience was to be very, very careful when being asked to pick up a rifle and participate in a war not of your choosing.
As our troops come home from Afghanistan and elsewhere many more of them than previously will have survived their wounds. The hale and hearty and the wounded will face a difficult road ahead to re-assimilate into a society that can never truly understand their experience and sacrifice. Whether we agree or disagree with the war they fought, we should each and every one of us, support them as best we can and thank them for their service. We should also be mindful of our duty as citizens to strive to keep our governments honest, especially when our government is deciding to go to war, or should it be called a police action.
