Few people who are alive today, and certainly no Veterans from the first World War, can attest to what transpired on July 28th, 1932.  Some of of our most illustrious leaders from the coming world war in 1939 were employed to route a crowd of 10,000 or so veterans and their families from their encampment on the banks of the Potomac. I speak of Generals MacArther, Eisenhower and Patton. How one can attack one’s own brethren and sleep at night will escape me forever.

 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief4.htm

Some media types have had the temerity to compare this event to the recent Occupy Wall Street movement. I ask the reader what could be more asinine. The two movements have absolutely nothing in common. The Veterans in 1932 were simply asking for remuneration for their service earlier than the promised 1945 redemption date. Knowing the deleterious effects of inflation first hand, these brave souls were asking for their promised stipend sooner due to economic doldrums suspiciously similar to what we now are encountering in the marketplace. I’m sure there are numerous Vets reading this who have finally won a long-standing dispute with the VA and been given a rump settlement that does not compensate for the loss in dollar value nor pay interest for the  years the claim was held hostage.  To those souls I can only offer condolences. This is the system we endure. Our government is renowned for its penurious proclivities so it should come as no surprise.

This in no way compares to what transpired in 1932. Tens of thousands of  WW1 Vets were granted $1.25 for every day served overseas and $1.00 a day for stateside service in 1924 by a grateful nation.  The catch was that this munificence would not become due and payable for another twenty-one years (1945). One does not need the acumen of a John Maynard Keynes to figure out this was a ploy to gain time and pay in inflated dollars. You can almost see the future fingerprints of what the government is currently up to with Social Security here. Nothing has changed in 88 years, has it?

Which brings us to 2011 and the newest Bonus Army. This eclectic bunch of protesters has very little in common with our 1932 crew. Some of those arrested have listed addresses in parts of upscale New York which do not comport with what we could consider the 99 percentile. I admire them for coming out on weekends and standing with their downtrodden fellow humans even if they are not economically depressed or unemployed. What might be overlooked in this rush to judgement are the very large numbers of Veterans now being attracted to this as it builds. The obvious difference is that their  jobs plight has resonance. They are not asking for another 99 weeks of unemployment or some nebulous amount of money simply because Joe Goldman Sachs has more of of it than they do.

Veterans are arriving on our shores in ever increasing numbers as the wars on terror subside and we decrease our military budget. We will soon have a rump army as we did in the post-Vietnam era with no ability to project power abroad, but that is an argument for another day. Unemployment is becoming endemic among these troops as they separate from service. The government, through its inaction and apathy, have compounded the problem with interest. When left with no ability to attain gainful employment,  these brave men and women are doing what their forebears of 1932 resorted to- voicing their displeasure with the status quo. The fact that their OWS demonstrators make odd bedfellows should not detract from their cause. The two have nothing in common other than a shared voice at the inequity of what is afoot in America today. Don’t blame the millionaires. Blame your government for its wastefulness. Better yet, America. Look in the mirror.

America is on the cusp of a new era. We have partied hearty. We have burned the candle not at both ends, but rather have broken it in the middle and lit all four ends simultaneously. Every budget cut proposed is met with another expense such that no meaningful savings and austerity can ever accrue. We have finally arrived at what can best be described as the Beatle’s song- I, me, me, mine. Take from him and give it to me.  The government’s rejoinder seems to be- Here’s one for you, nineteen for me. What is lost in the shuffle is the compact we, as Veterans, have always been enticed with in order to serve America. The promise of meaningful future employment gained by learning a trade in the service, medical care in the event of injury and most importantly, compensation for those injuries should we manage to survive them have been the paramount reasons for many of us to heed the call to arms. Others, like me, just liked the smell of cordite and the thrill of victory. Eau d’ gunpowder is a powerful aphrodisiac to the young. However, our government’s habit of waging war without considering the collateral damage to Vets is coming back to haunt them as it did in 1932 and post-Vietnam. The piper must be paid.  No more can we sweep this under the carpet because the carpet’s beginning to resemble the Rocky mountains.

So now we Americans find ourselves at a crossroads. Our promise to our warriors is beginning to ring hollow and they suspect as much. Consider the conundrum of the Emperor becoming chilly and discovering suddenly that he is naked. Many is the Vet who has returned to seek his former job as the law dictates he is entitled.  The civilian who took his place feels equally disenfranchised when asked to relinquish it. Employers are using all manner of subterfuge to get around this impediment. Once again, the Vet loses and the government looks the other way. The parallels to the Bonus Army are numerous and bode poorly for these returning warriors.  The new reality is starting to make itself apparent. Blame is apportioned to many, but a coherent solution remains elusive. I, me, me, mine.

A redux of 1932 may not be avoidable. Sometimes we have to have a distasteful display of what life without civilized discourse looks like to bring us to the bargaining table. The demonstrations during the Vietnam war were a prime example of how America voiced its displeasure with the direction government was taking. The Kent State massacre, like the uprooting of the Bonus Army, became a rallying cry for justice in 1970. It was narrowly focused on one goal-something the OWS movement lacks.

Now is not the time to be ushered to the back of the bus to sit with the Rosa Parks of the movement and patiently await our turn at the microphone. Veterans should become the vanguard of this and politely ask the OWS riffraff  to move to the back of that proverbial bus and wait their turn in line. Veterans have been marginalized for decades and have politely acquiesced to the prevailing political winds for their meager reward. Sometimes you have to piss on the fire and call in the dogs as my daddy used to say.  I expect that time is now before we are asked to sacrifice for the good of America and wait yet again “until things get better”. We arrived at this impasse figuratively in 1932- far earlier than  the 99ers. I submit that we have legitimately earned the right to be at the head of this line.

Somewhere in the intervening years since the Gettysburg address, the phrase “For he who shall have borne the battle, his widow and his orphan child ” has lost it’s ability to move Congress to do what is unarguably their duty to the Veteran. Granting us one day a year and paying us lip service with a mindless  “Thank you for your service” doesn’t cut it with me either. It may make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It may even make you swell your chest in pride. Unfortunately, “Thank you for your service” doesn’t give these Veterans what they need- namely, a job. Happy Veterans Day to all but is it truly a happy one?