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Thu. Nov 25, 2004

Giving Thanks

On previous Thanksgivings, in 2001 I made a list of many things for which I’m thankful, and in 2002, Just One Thing ... that “my wife of 32 days is on the mend this Thanksgiving, after urgent spinal surgery yesterday.”

While I’m still thankful for all those things, this year my mind and thanks turn to the men and women in the Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy, many of whom are very far from home today.

You might be someone who didn’t support regime change in Iraq. Or, like me, you might think it’s a case of “Good War, Bad Occupation.” Either way, your beef is with some suits in DC. Possibly a few men in uniform with a lot of stars on their shoulders, but mostly suits.

However, the men and women who wear a duty (not dress) uniform to work everyday, we all owe them more thanks than any one day can give. For many of them, this has been rough year, filled with harsh tasks, and the loss of comrades. It’s a time to remember the 99.999% who do their uniform and their country proud on a daily basis, not the handful who stained their uniform in this past year at Abu Ghraib. It’s a time to honor the standard, not the aberration.

And it’s not just the men and women who serve in Iraq (or Afghanistan, or other hazardous places). We should also thank the people in uniform who do the “grunt work” necessary to support a soldier in the field, from maintenance on Air Force aircraft here in the US, to loading pallets of supplies, to nurses and doctors in hospitals in Germany, and every logistical and communication point in between. For each soldier in the field, there are likely a half dozen or more elsewhere working to support him.

While we’ve been both saddened and inspired by the stories of Specialist Pat Tillman, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, Cpl. Dimitrios Gavriel, and even Chuck Yeager’s grandson, the uniform isn’t all about guts, glory, and warfare. Because last week the US military ended one mission in which tens of thousands have participated, the 9 year peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. The mission ended because the circumstances of ethnic cleansing and genocide that killed up to a quarter million Muslims no longer existed in Bosnia, largely thanks to the decade long commitment of men and women in uniform.

So on this day of Thanksgiving, I offer thanks to the men and women who volunteered to do something I never considered in my youth: wear the uniform of the United States military in service to their country.

You have my heartfelt thanks, each and every one of you.

Later: Tom Friedman has a rather pointed and angry column today that ends: “I want to take time on this Thanksgiving to thank God I live in a country where, despite so much rampant selfishness, the public schools still manage to produce young men and women ready to voluntarily risk their lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to spread the opportunity of freedom and to protect my own. And I want to thank them for doing this, even though on so many days in so many ways we really don’t deserve them.”