I have been known to listen to different news sources not only to broaden my perspective on how dissimilar minds think but also to attempt to comprehend change. An example would be how (or why) a swath of America has become rabidly anti-Semitic when the aggressors in 2023 that began this latest tit-for tat were Hamas. Fox News, regardless of what one might feel about them, sends out a fellow named Johnny Monday through Friday who asks pointed questions about some of the most elementary of subjects. Who was America’s first president is one. Many are clueless.

This increasing ignorance (or indifference) is destined to eventually destroy our nation in my mind. America’s might-our collective existence- hinges on our greatest asset- Freedom. Freedom of speech. Freedom of travel without restriction. Freedom to own guns. Freedom to choose not to own guns. Freedoms too numerous to list here. It’s not “White entitlement”. It’s American entitlement brought to you by hundreds of years of folks who were afraid it might perish. That’s the essence of Memorial Day and why we celebrate it. Imagine where we’d be if we had never fought for our freedom in 1776. We’d all be talking weird like those people across the pond.

As a Nation, we are a bright shining light in a dark world. The statue gifted us by France in New York’s harbor is a symbol of that belief. Rather than preach about the growing ignorance afoot from sea to shining sea or why thousands of students at some of our most expensive and prestigious colleges support the genocide inflicted on innocent partygoers at a desert rock concert in Israel, I’ll refrain. Nevertheless, I submit something is horribly amiss.

A Google news item this morning iterates my point. The title? Explaining the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Dear God. Have we come so far from the Viet Nam debacle or the ignoble Iraqistan retreat that we are inured to all suffering engendered by war? Are we  literally one news cycle away from forgetting our history and condemned to repeating it all over again? Perish the thought.

Moving along, I read of  my fellow Viet Nam Veteran Phil Robertson’s passing yesterday. We now add him to the pantheon of America’s fallen who served in a thankless job and came home to equally thankless citizens who considered us to be cold, heartless killers. Patriotic Americans, and I certainly consider myself one, can only wonder how we could fight three major wars (WW I, WW II and Korea) and tie yellow ribbons around every available tree at hand but denigrate those of us ( my father and myself included) as baby killers and somehow lower than whale shit.

What does it forebode for the future of our great Nation if this is our inevitable future? Are some wars more morally acceptable than others? I was taught that we learn from our mistakes. How many times in the past have I heard some VA higher-up say ‘Boy howdy. We sure didn’t see this backlog thing coming when we revamped the decision-making  process in 2014’. But then again in 2022, hear yet another REMF  say exactly the same thing about the AMA. Or the Mission Act to allow Vets to go to a doctor near them instead of being forced to travel 90 miles to a VAMC only for the legislation to be ‘revised’ numerous times until it became a mere chimera of its original intent.

For the first time in my 36 years of dealing with VA on a personal note, I feel a change in the air. Say what you want about our current President and his aspirations to revamp VA but a sea change is afoot- or at least I hope so. How many past VASECs have promised us the world and left us in the lurch? President Trump attempted to rid us of the dead wood of VA employees who stole moneys used for Veterans. He got Congress to pass legislation allowing the VA to rid themselves of these vermin only to be blocked by the Courts and the unions.

Every day, I hear numerous Vets bemoan the coming changes to VA. Downsizing is bad. It’ll destroy VA as we know it. It’ll take forever to adjudicate my claims. Hello? Did any of you notice the system has been broken since 1930 and in spite of every new repair order, it just seems to continue to be more convoluted, slower and more complicated with every repair order? Name one President in the last 30 years who “fixed” VA. In spite of the crickets, all I hear is the doom and gloom at the mere prospect of ridding ourselves of all the participants of the orgies down in Tennessee or the malfeasance afoot  in Puerto Rico where they’re selling ratings again as they did in 1988.

I think back to 2010 when Shinseki allowed Congress to create two unequal sets of Veterans- those pre-2001 and those post. The post 911 Vets were granted entitlement to SMC T whereas those of us who experienced ‘organic brain injury’ in WW II, Korea and Vietnam  were somehow less equal than the those who experienced TBI. Granted, Congress righted that wrong later (2019) but it created a seismic shock wave among us that George Orwell’s ‘some pigs are more equal than other pigs’ in Animal Farm had even entered the VA lexicon.

I encountered something similar to this dichotomy when I separated in 1973. Granted, I parted ways with Uncle Sam under less than warm, fuzzy circumstances but it was under honorable conditions. To my horror, when I went down to the VFW and asked for membership information, I was told that Viet Nam wasn’t a “War” but merely a “conflict”. As such, I didn’t qualify for membership but I was free to toodle on down to the American Legion and they’d welcome me with open arms.

Memorial Day takes one day and sets it aside for those who died in uniform- not every Tom, Dick and Harry who ever served. Surprisingly, it’s not a small, cloistered coterie like Medal of Honor winners. Check this out:

To me, and perhaps I’m just old fashioned in this respect, I feel American History should be taught in our schools with the same verve it was in the 1950s.  Obviously, it’s not or you wouldn’t see those ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ expressions on 20-something year olds at Spring Break in Miami when asked who our first President was. Since when did learning about global warming or who invented AI upstage the history of America’s birth and her ascension to the greatest nation on earth?  Worse, why would we teach our youth to be ashamed of our history and our march to equality for all our citizens?

Memorial Day should not be a reason to don sack cloth and anoint our heads with ashes for participating in past wars or permitting slavery to  be introduced to our country. It should be a celebration of our ongoing efforts to rid the world of war and that all men (collectively including women) are created equal. You can’t continue to wallow in the 3/5 of a man logic of the past. That ship sailed 160 years ago and died with the advent of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Memorial Day should be a day to genuflect on our National progression from a dream to a reality of true Freedom and our genuine thanks for those who died choosing to make it so. Sure, throw in a barbeque and brewskis with your BFFs and enjoy the three-day weekend. Each National holiday has a theme. This one is just a wee bit more unique in that it encompasses a thanksgiving for those who made our freedom a reality or an attempt to ensure its continued success. Only the 4th of July rivals it in terms of Patriotism.

Capt. Sean P. Sims Sunrise 1972 Sunset 2004

Revel in the fact that we become better citizens (and Patriots) by remembering our past and taking one day out of our busy lives to commemorate those who raised their right hands and swore to defend this great country but never lived to reap the fruits of their labor; who never came home to parades, marriage, children and living peacefully to a ripe old age. Remembering their sacrifice is what ensures, in small part, keeping our country strong and safe. Neglect it at your peril.

God Bless America.

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that…