230507 Heroes

We in America seem to be mixed up on the subject of heroes.

We idolize movie screen characters that race around in cars, crash into cars, shoot and kill bad guys. I find this disturbing. The so-called heroes in those scenes mostly aren’t the actual guys that do the fantastic scenes, they are done by other guys called screen doubles. They are stunt men who practice how to make those scenes work.

Now I want to write about real heroes. After WW-2 real heroes came home from the war, there were parades for them, they couldn’t buy a beer in a tavern because some grateful citizen wanted to buy it for them. Those heroes went back to school or went to work and built this country’s economy.

After Korea, there was little fanfare and those heroes went to their families and went to work, sadly worse for the wear after the war ended.

Then Vietnam happened. Those soldiers came home to protesters who hassled them, pushed them, spat on them and called them baby killers. Those soldiers fought in the worst jungles on earth, they not only fought a determined foe, but the jungles were filled with the deadliest viper snakes, deadly insects and leaches that sucked the blood from them. They slept on the ground in those jungles and if they avoided getting killed by the enemy, many died from the snakes or the insects or from heat exhaustion. WW-2 combat troops were pulled off the front lines occasionally and were sent to rear areas to get away from the fighting. In Vietnam they were allowed one week or so away for rest in 13 months of daily combat. They are the unrecognized heroes. Many have ended up being homeless or committing suicide. The horrors they faced were too much to bear when they came home.

Today we have heroes around the world who have fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Bosnia, Africa, Panama and more places I don’t know about. America’s military makes up about one percent of the population. One percent to defend against colossal potential enemies, Russia, China and Iran to name a few. The soldiers of today are modern day heroes. They too have gone into harm's way to protect this country from its enemies. They do it to serve this country. They are the men and women who stand up and protect the movie heroes, the families and those ordinary workers who have much higher paychecks and don’t support those who serve.

I see veterans every day that don’t get recognition for their service and it makes me sad, especially for Vietnam vets and those in service today. We are more interested in cell phones than people who sacrificed to protect us.

Maybe I’m just a sad old man who thinks differently from the rest of our nation. I hope I’m not alone in my thinking.