Veterans Day is Nov. 11. As a veteran with a long family history of military service, Veterans Day is a very important day to me. Veterans Day was first celebrated to commemorate the termination of hostilities after the First World War. It was initially known as Armistice Day and was first observed November 11th, 1918. Today, veterans make up less than 10 percent of the total U.S. population, or 19 million Americans.
The nature of warfare and what has been expected of our nation’s armed forces has drastically changed since the Vietnam War. The country has shifted from a primarily conscript army to one that is an all-volunteer force. Like many things in life, that change has had both upsides and downsides. One of the major downsides is that a minority of Americans are being asked to shoulder even greater burdens on the battlefields. While in the past it was common to do one’s tour and be done with one’s military service, today’s veterans have been asked to serve several tours in several places during the War on Terror. For example, there were over 10 million American soldiers who served in the Vietnam War, while only 2.5 million served in the most recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places around the globe.
I am often thanked for my service on Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) which is a day to commemorate the nation’s fallen. Lucky, it’s not a day to remember me.
The Madison College Libraries have several resources for veterans, including our Veterans Resource Guide https://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/veterans with informational links to books and other materials in the libraries and links to other pages of interest to veterans and those who serve our veteran community.
Madison College also offers many services to veterans, and you can find out more at https://madisoncollege.edu/student-experience/support/veterans.
I think it would be wholly appropriate to reflect on what veterans have given and continue to give us every day. Furthermore, and maybe this is just me, but instead of only thanking a veteran for their service, I think it would be great if in honor of our veterans you would consider an act of service to help remember those who have served us.