The first story I heard today about veterans was about was about former soldiers returning home and becoming firefighters because the camaraderie and brotherhood they find among firefighters makes the job similar to being in the military. My first thought upon hearing the tease for the story was, “Similar to the military, huh? Wonder if they find a lot of female firefighters are sexually assaulted, too.”
“Get dressed and don’t think about such things,” I told myself, temporarily blaming my thoughts on sleep deprivation and a long, dry reading about Western imperialism the night before. Veterans Day is meant to honor men and women who serve our country, fight for freedom, etc. Many men and women in my family served in the armed forces. A little American Flag is placed on one grandfather’s grave every Memorial Day. I should be celebrating my freedom or thanking a veteran, not thinking about ugly things like imperialism or military industrial complexes or PTSD or the economic, physical, familial, psychological and emotional costs of wars, or the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military.
So instead I’m just writing a brief post about those passing thoughts, being happy for the men in the story who have a strong desire to serve and have found a career post-military that helps them do that, and saying a late-afternoon, “Happy Veterans Day.”