Veterans Day 2021

Personnel is policy is an old Beltway truism. The nature of the man or woman who serves in a given office is perhaps the most impactful determiner of how the powers of that office will be exercised. Nowhere is this truer than among those who have chosen to serve in the United States military.

The United States has many advantages which supported its rise to preeminence on the world stage, including a large landmass, (traditionally) peaceful borders, and bountiful natural resources. But so do many other nations, some with far longer histories of martial prowess.

But America’s armed forces are staffed by citizen-soldiers, volunteers. All sources of political philosophy, both ancient and modern, are clear on the superiority of a fighting force recruited among a free people, as opposed to one conscripted out of the oppressed, or staffed by mercenaries serving only for pay.

And it is the character of those free citizen-soldiers upon which America’s historic success lies. It has also led to the now ubiquitous images of the American fighting man cradling a child, protecting the elderly, or cheerfully bearing up under the hardship of austere conditions. And it continues long after their service has ended.

In America’s early days it was largely veterans who carved new towns and cities out of the frontier, and the same spirit drives today’s veterans to form thriving enterprises and life-changing non-profits, which provide us the benefit from our veterans long after their terms of service come to an end.

It is the same character that led veterans to risk life and limb to rescue fellow citizens and former comrades in arms abandoned by their political leaders in the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

At the conclusion of a long-fought war, rather than thank veterans for their years of loyal service, some politicians and the corporate media, increasingly treat them as a potential “extremists.” We face a concentrated effort to drastically alter the moral character of America’s fighting force, demanding adherence to unnecessary and in some cases conscience-violating mandates and promoting anti-American and immoral ideologies that seek to turn the United States military from a source of pride and unity into a source of division.

America has long been blessed by the upright and faithful character of the American citizen-soldier. They have fought and bleed to found, strengthen, defend, and preserve this Republic, and for this they are owed the unending thanks of a grateful nation.

But character is not something one is born with, rather it is forged. And so, our citizen-soldiers are owed not merely our thanks, today and always. They are also owed our fullest efforts to ensure that America’s future defenders are raised up and instructed in the same long tradition of loyal and honorable service which we honor today and which has made this country the envy of the ages.