Everyone has their reasons. Some of us wanted stability or a way out of a difficult situation, and others sought belonging or purpose that civilian life had failed to offer. Some of us thought we were making a real difference and doing something that would help people. Many of us who served did not enlist out of blind allegiance or political ideology. Whatever brought us there, most of us entered the military hoping to do some good in a complicated world.
What they do not tell you is that the military preys on those from difficult backgrounds. The poor, the under-educated and the damaged. They post recruiters at high schools and show the idealistic life of a “hero” in TV commercials and movies, but everything they tell you comes with an imperceptible asterisk. They make promises they never intended on keeping, and the stability and camaraderie is a selective “good ol’ boys” club.
“Don’t make waves and you’ll eat.” This statement was one of the first things I heard upon landing at my first, and final, assignment. It took less than six months to shatter the nationalist, patriotic idealism they try to instill through the floundering American education system and then again at Basic Training. Over time, the “hero worship” that surrounds the American Military, among other professions, presented itself as the problem that it is. When every enlisted member and veteran is treated as a flawless hero, it silences the harder conversations we need to have about the human behind the uniform. That kind of blind reverence is dangerous because not everyone who serves is a good person. A belief that any one person is above accountability and criticism turns intelligent people into fools. Real respect means being willing to question the people and the systems that perpetuate damaging cycles, both within the military and beyond.
As a veteran, it is hard to watch the rise of authoritarian and fascist movements here at home.
Many veterans still remember the oath we swore as more than just words to recite at our enlistment, or when we finished Basic Training. The oath is not to a political party, a leader or the flag; it is to the Constitution and to the country and her people. For those of us who have seen what unchecked power and dehumanization can lead to, the warning signs have been impossible to ignore.
You may not like veterans, and you may not want us around in your spaces or our influence in
your lives, but it would be wise to not forsake the veterans who remember our oath. Do not assume that because our service once benefited the military industrial complex that we are incapable of standing against it. Many of us are trying to reckon with the contradictions of our service. Speaking out against the same hyper-militarism and political manipulation that once shaped our lives is how some of us continue our service. Not every enlisted member and veteran will be an ally to a righteous cause, nor will every one of us care to remember the oath we swore. But I can guarantee at least one as an ally in the fight for accountability, justice and peace.
Many veterans carry a deep awareness of the contradictions in which we were part of, and some of us live with that every day. We do not want praise or pity. We want honesty, humility and a country that lives up to the ideals we once swore to protect. “Hero worship” will not save democracy, but solidarity might. The most “Patriotic American” thing we can do is stand up against the same forces of hate and control that countless Americans once fought to defeat abroad.
As they say, “chinga la migra,” and every empire that calls genocide “security.” Different lands, same blood, same silence.