On D-Day's 65th Anniversary, Americans' Reluctance to Serve Is Shameful
Adrian R. Lewis, a retired Army major, is a professor of history at the University of Kansas and the Naval War College and author of The American Culture of War: A History of American Military Force from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory.
Never has such a burden been imposed on so few.
Soldiers who landed at Normandy in France on June 6, 1944, and fought all the way through to the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 saw less combat than many soldiers and marines currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps are too small to do all that is asked and required of them, yet our political and military leaders have not called upon the American people to serve. In the face of growing threats in Iran, North Korea, and other parts of the world, American men and women are not asked to perform the duties of citizens—responsibilities that have been the hallmark of Western civilization since the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans, as they certainly were when American draftees hit the French beaches. Without the sacrifices of these American servicemen—sacrifices like those their forebears had made for generations—the world would be a different place today.
It is different than it was on June 6, 1944, but something is wrong.
Too many soldiers and marines have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, some as many as five. "Stop loss" policies have precluded soldiers from leaving the Army at the end of their contractual agreements, a practice some have called a "backdoor draft." There are cases of post-traumatic stress disorder on a scale we have never seen before. Families are being destroyed, hurting the children of servicemen and women and diminishing morale. In 2008, 138 soldier deaths were confirmed as suicides, the fourth year in a row the Army has seen an increase. Last month, a soldier on his third tour in Iraq and suffering from PTSD shot and killed five comrades. The psychological damage caused by severe trauma is cumulative.
We are in uncharted waters. Mental health professionals do not fully understand the long-term effects from multiple tours in combat zones. We do know that soldiers who landed in North Africa in November 1942 and fought all the way through to victory also saw less combat than many of the soldiers and marines currently in Iraq and Afghanistan. We know that marines who fought in the first campaign in the Pacific theater at Guadalcanal in August 1942 and the last campaigns at Iwo Jima and Okinawa in February and April 1945 saw less combat than many of those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Out of 300 million Americans, less than 1 percent is bearing the full burden of two long wars.
To be sure, the D-Day forces experienced trauma. Liberating Europe from the Axis powers took a horrific toll on life and limb. But U.S. soldiers were paying what their generation recognized as the price of citizenship in a free America.
The failure to ask the American people to serve constitutes not only a failure of leadership but also a failure of citizenship. The fact that there have been no actions taken and no national debate on this issue is indicative of a larger problem.
Today, many Americans are uninvolved, disengaged, disinterested, and unconcerned about the wars their country fights, which suggests they do not understand that price. (For those who serve, a magnetic yellow ribbon on the exterior of a car stating "Support Our Troops" does little but inspire contempt.) Too many Americans are uninformed and uneducated about the history and culture of the people whose support, cooperation, and resources we need to maintain the world economy, to fuel our cars, to sustain our national debt, to maintain our national security, which is inextricably tied to global security, and to avoid another 9/11.
The American people live comfortably with a lie. The lie is that they are not needed, that the armed forces of the United States have sufficient men and women to do all the jobs given to them, that troop morale is high, that the burdens carried and pains felt by military families is negligible, and that there is no anger directed at civilians for their absence from the too numerous battlefields upon which our armed forces fight or for their decision to accept the politically expedient policy of placing the entire burden of the global war on terrorism on the small, professional forces. There is anger, there is pain, and there is contempt. However, it is all out of sight and out of mind. The distance between the American people and their armed forces has grown considerably in the years since D-day and exponentially since the Vietnam War, facilitating the maintenance of the comfortable facade that the American people no longer have a part to play in war, beyond that of spectator.
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Reader Comments
Honest Thoughts
There is much I could add. We are at a crossroads historiclly. The troops are the "thin red line"- they are the human version of Hadrian's Wall. September 11, 2001 briefly awoke a sleeping public, but they have resumed their slumber.
Human nature seems to guide us to delay painful or unpleasant prices. The price of freedom is not blood, but service. There are of course nexous moments in history when service requires that people bleed for their beliefs. The Jews in Krakow were not a legally constituted military force, but they knew that it was fight or die. Those men and women defeated a Nazi brigade. Those Jews in the ghetto of Krakow were placed in that situation because the Polish military was unable to stop a juggernaut. Polish soldiers died valiantly and fought nobly. In the end they were overwhelmed becuase like many European powers they chose complacency over preparation- they lulled themselves into believing that it would not happen to them.
Today we fight an asymetric enemy and the threat of nuclear proliferation and there is no "Hitler" hovering on our borders. This does not mean that the threat is less- just different. This was proven on September 11,2001.
Today we sit complacently withdrawn behind our technical and nuclear superiority, content in the knowledge that someone else will bear the burden, smug in the decision that we will serve when the enemy is at the gate.
Our young and not so young service members in the guard, reserve and active duty along with civilian law enforcement are carrying forward and are truly amazing. I have helped to bury a Marine and I pray that I do not have to do the same for my son, but why should he or I be exempt from a duty that should be borne by all? Those who do serve must not look backward and find that themselves alone- deserted by their countrymen.
Culturally the West is in an era that is very analagous to the 1920's and 30's. If we allow the analogy to continue we will find ourselves in a series of wars that could've been avoided. Perhaps we are already there.
Peace through Strength is not a philosophy it is a reality.
If my son or daughter chooses to follow me into the military I will be proud becuase they have chosen to serve others. Those of us who serve, serve so others can have a party in the backyard, go to a safe job and shop at the mall and pray in the mosque, church, synagogue or temple of their choice. We who serve want those things as well. Is it right that 99% should prosper by the sacrifice of 1%? What is the right percentage?
I only know I could not hold my head up high if I had not served my fellow man, my fellow Americans- if I was not part of that one percent.
what the?
i am a retired military member and i did not join because it is my duty, i had my own political reasons for joining. i would never agree to making people join the military, fight illegal fights and die for a piece of ground and to prove to the world that my god is better than their god beliefs. i can't understand how people salute a piece of cloth,it's a piece of cloth, it's not christ!and i never pledge allegience to a country so out of controll on fighting everybody. when i go to events and everyone rises, i stay put. when a service member dies, i salute the soldier because even though we see things differentaly, he still is my brother.
U.S.A.F. ret
Kudo's to Maj. (Ret.) Lewis
I am a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Army, serving from August 1982 through September 2003. Over those years I was deployed or in some fashion supported conflicts in Central-America, Grenada, The Persian Gulf (1986 and 1991), the Balkans, Korea (The year I spent there in 1998/99 over 120 Korean soldiers on both sides were killed in armed conflict) Afghanistan, and Iraq. In between those deployments were countless mini-deployments to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin California, Fort Chaffee Arkansas, Fort Polk Louisiana, Aerial Gunnery at Fort Knox, Field exercises at Fort Campbell and Grafenwoehr in Germany. Not to mention the little known mission to keep the U.S. Embassy open in Beirut Lebanon, that took me on numerous deployments to the region from 1985 through 1992. The day-to-day operational tempo of the armed services are relentless and the soldiers at the unit level always ask "why are there not more of us to do all that is asked of us?" and "Why don't we get paid more for all that we do?"
I completely agree with Dr. Lewis that more citizens should serve in some capacity in the Armed Services. Most people seem to forget (or choose to ignore) that the military help to fight forest fires, perform disaster relief efforts, patrol the southern U.S. border, as well as search and rescue operations world-wide on a day to day basis, all while we fight on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Many countries around the world have compulsory military/national service. The United States should institute the same thing. Our 30,000 soldiers in Korea are facing over one million North Korean soldiers today as I type this note.
I was medically retired due to Gulf War Illness, and I would still be proudly serving today if not for my premature (and unwanted) retirement. The VA is graciously sending me through college to retrain me for a civilian career, and I plan on using that degree upon graduation in May 2010 to re-enter the Department of Defense and continue to support both training and war until the day comes when I can no longer physically and/or mentally continue to serve.
My fellow Americans, please support our service-members through some type of service, whether it be by volunteering with the Red Cross, The U.S.O., the National Guard and Reserves, or on active duty. Contact your elected representatives and ask them to push for a larger military.
A large, strong, military is essential to a lot more then just fighting wars!
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