I’m a US Military Veteran. And I’d Appreciate It If You Didn’t Thank Me for My Service.

You don’t know me, and you don’t know my sacrifice.

I could have served a 2 year stint cooking and driving trucks.
If you’re going to give thanks for that, thank that single mother of two waiting on your table.

I could have served 4 years in Hawaii and gotten a paycheck, room and board while learning a valuable trade that got me a good job as a civilian.
If you’re going to give thanks for that, thank the trade school graduate who took classes part-time while working construction and supporting his family.

I could have served 6 years aboard a ship, about as safe from terrorists as a New Yorker, learning how to repair and operate a nuclear reactor so I could get a six figure income when I got out.
There are plenty of college graduates working high tech jobs with massive student loan debt. Thank them.

I could have skipped out after I got bored and finished with a dishonourable discharge.
Why would you thank someone for that?

What I wasn’t, was a person carrying a gun, wondering if I was going to be shot by a sniper, blown up by an IED, or killed in myriad other fashions I can’t even comprehend.
Thank them. Thank them in the very best way possible. Bring them home to their families, so they can live a life not killing nor being killed. Treat their willingness to risk their lives with the highest respect possible – as something never called upon unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. You know, just as necessary as if it was YOUR life. Just as important as the lives of wealthy CEOs and their stockholders who profit massively on war. Just as precious as the lives of those civilians killed as “collateral” damage, or “noncombatants” – sterile words to mask the realities of innocent men, women and children shot, blown up, or burned alive.

The military is not a cult, and its members, present and past, are not holy. We are not chess pieces on a board. We are the same as you, with complexity, depth, passions and dreams. We are not to be used as a battle cry – “Support our Troops!” – to justify the obscene wars of the oligarchy.

So please, don’t thank me for my service. If you care about our troops, end the US wars of conquest, and bring them home.

(Photo by Holly Mindrup on Unsplash)

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