Posts tagged “veteran’s day”
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What’s In A Number?
November 11, 2009
I grew up in a working class neighborhood in the South Bronx, New York, where people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds lived. No one talked of soldiers or veterans as “combat troops.” It was Mike or Sal, John or Charlie. It was Millie’s son and Mrs. Harris’ grandson, Tanya’s husband and Josie’s brother, Mary’s nephew and Jane’s boyfriend; the connections go on and on.
The pro and con arguments about sending more troops to Afghanistan also go on, various plans and strategies put forward. No one, however, has mentioned the consequences of such a decision to the thousands of non-combat troops here as well as in Afghanistan. Years after the end of the Vietnam War, architects of that engagement called it a “mistake,” “misguided,” some apologized; a mistake that affected hundreds of thousands of people at home as well as in country. Are we again to wait years for historians and politicians to revisit today’s decisions? Where are the apologies for what has been done in Iraq? Haven’t we learned yet? And if not, as in Vietnam, will it be too late, I fear? — Beverly Gologorsky
Tags: articles, beverly gologorsky, fiction, things we do to make it home, veteran's day
