Honor our Veterans this week

With Veterans’ Day Sunday, November 11th now is a good time to take a look at some of the wars and conflicts this nation has been involved in over the past years. Up until the late 1980’s most of our wars were called just that, but here of late different names have been attached to them.

Way back when, most wars were usually named for the adversaries. Spanish American War, Mexican American War, Franco Prussian War. Most everyone in this country was involved in one way or the other in World War I or World War II.

We called our struggle for independence the Revolutionary War, while others called it the American Revolution because it was not the first nor will it be the last revolution.

We called our intramural war the Civil War, the War Between the States, or the War of Northern Aggression, depending on one’s point of view and geographical location. Then there was the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The United States launched Operation Just Cause in 1989 and it was the first war that comes to mind that was named by the public relations guys. In Panama it was referred to as The Invasion and was our attack on Panama to remove Noriega from power. Maybe it was not really a war after all.

In the early 1990’s Desert Shield morphed into Desert Storm when former President George Bush sent troops to Iran to force Saddam’s troops back into their own country, Iraq. Some say President Bush and the military leaders should have gone into Iraq back then and removed Saddam from power. At the time our nation saved Iran from a hostile takeover, but we were in a no win situation as to whether or not to remove Saddam from power in Iraq. It was one of those dang if you do and dang if you don’t deals.

The next conflict our country was engaged in was first called the war to remove the Taliban and was named Operation Enduring Freedom in an area of our world that has never really enjoyed the fruit of freedom. This war was prompted as you know by the events that occurred in our nation on September 11, 2001.

The next war our nation was involved in was very accurately called the War on Terrorism. We had to fight the terrorist abroad on their own soil in order to hopefully prevent another 9-11 from happening in this nation. Whether we all agree that we should have been in Iraq at this time is irrelevant. The fact is our troops were there and remained there until some sort of victory was achieved. It was a very difficult war.

Most of you reading this column today probably have never experienced combat. Many of us have served our country but thank goodness have never had to dodge real bullets or face the type enemy our men and women in the Middle East had to face. The War on Terrorism was a terrible war but one that we could not afford to lose.

When our relatives returned home from Europe and the Pacific after World War II they did not care to talk about the war. Even more so, when our troops returned home from Vietnam they surely didn’t want to talk about the war, and many still don’t want to talk about it today. The late General Douglas McArthur put it best when he said, “War is Hell.”

Over the years we have had many brave men and women die on foreign soil to protect us at home and to keep us free. We have had many others who are scarred and crippled for life fighting an enemy who sees war and death as grand adventures.

As we celebrate Veterans’ Day this week may I encourage you to participate in the ceremonies planned for your community to honor our men and women who served. Better still, call the veterans you know and thank them for their service to this great nation.