As Veterans Day approaches this year, wars and rumors of war motivate citizens to not only honor all military veterans but also to assure young men and women choosing the military that they will also be among the honored ones. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has talked about restoring a warrior ethos for the strongest, most powerful, most lethal and most prepared military on the planet.
This militaristic view is far from the goal of Veterans Day’s precursor holiday, Armistice Day, a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace, following “the war to end all wars.” Yet, Secretary Hegseth insists there is “a simple yet profound truth. To ensure peace, we must prepare for war … history teaches us, the only people who actually deserve peace are those who are willing to wage war to defend it.”
To the contrary, the history of perpetual war demonstrates that expecting war to be the path to peace is an exercise in naiveite. The evidence proves that war does not secure peace. Wars fought over borders, wealth, ethnicity, retaliation, vengeance and slippery security have continued to obscure the way to peace for generations. It is disingenuous to fight wars over and over again expecting that the next war will somehow reap a different result.
Perhaps an alternative is to seek peace by exercising a commitment to the understanding that war is a flawed instrument for peace. Perhaps Veterans Day may be a recommitment to the Armistice Day “dedication to the cause of peace,” meaning no more wars. President Wilson in 1919 revered Armistice Day because of “the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”.
The best support that may be given to veterans may be to introduce, in their name, a vision for a peace initiative that abandons the narrative of warrior and sacrifice and replaces it with a refusal to expect wars will ever bring peace. Perhaps Veterans Day may be the venue to revive the question from the anti-war movement of the 60s, “what if there was a war declared and no one came?”
That question haunts me to this day. You see, in that same decade I was one who was drafted and, against my conscience, went into the Army to become a neuropsychiatric medic serving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. At first, I was quite self-righteous because I had chosen to be involved in healing rather than harming.
However, a doctor under whom we served explained to us that our very presence as medics gave the combat soldiers a deceptive sense of protection and therefore a willingness to go into battle. We medics learned that we were just another instrument of war. We were judged by the Kingston Trio song that includes the words: “Where have all the young men gone? / Gone for soldiers, everyone / When will they ever learn? / When will they ever learn?”
Veterans Day may be received as an honor by many veterans. However, for others, the day may simply remind them of the road to peace not taken. Or some may feel that the glory offered to them is unwarranted and unwanted. Veterans Day may give us all the opportunity to learn, learn that it is possible to gain peace without going to war. Learn to honor veterans with an apology for luring them into military life and for sending many into harm’s way. Learn ways to demonstrate that Americans “ain’t gonna study war no more,” but instead study the value of human lives and ways to demonstrate love of neighbor.
Then honor non-violent volunteer groups such as veterans of Doctors without Borders, the Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity and veterans of non-profit organizations that seek to feed the hungry, heal the environment and host ethnic and cultural exchanges. In other words, dedicate the day “to the cause of peace.”
John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds
Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.