November 11 was “Veteran’s Day” in the United States. My feelings about this day have changed vastly over a decade of war.
I was twelve when the attacks on September 11 happened and the United States government made the decision to invade Afghanistan and then Iraq. Some of my first political acts were participation in anti-war protests. At the same time, military recruiters set up tables in my high school cafeteria and placed daily calls to the houses of myself and my friends, promising a free higher education in exchange for five years of military service. Around the same time as I was choosing between colleges, one of my best friends was deciding whether or not to enlist in the army. He signed his contract during my first semester of college (in 2006) and deployed to Ramadi shortly thereafter.
I experienced the War in Iraq largely through my friend’s phone calls and letters at home. I supplemented his firsthand accounts with news articles, social media coverage of U.S. military action (from both military and civilian perspectives), and the testimony of the Iraq Veterans against the War (an organization descended from the Vietnam Veterans against the War). The War in Iraq occupied a huge space in my emotional, mental, and academic consciousness. As long as my friend was deployed, I felt directly connected to the war. If I saw a buzz cut or a uniform on the street (which was often, since I lived in Washington, D.C.), I wanted to make friends. This was partially in reaction to a need to feel closer to my friend and also because, the more I read about the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the more alienated I felt from my peers at school.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been fought by an all-volunteer army. Although service men and women come from a diversity of social and economic backgrounds, military recruiting has targeted lower socioeconomic demographics. During the Vietnam War era, ROTC programs (officer training programs for university students) were eliminated from Ivy League campuses and have only recently begun to be reinstated. These factors have created a dynamic where the impact of America’s most recent wars is only directly felt by a small portion of society. Returning soldiers may find themselves experiencing strong feelings of alienation from a public able to tune in or out of the conflict.
As an undergrad at Georgetown University, I found myself surrounded by peers willing and able to talk about the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from an abstract policy perspective but less willing to focus on the human impact of the conflict – from both a civilian and military perspective.
This past September marked the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks. Within the majority of the media commentary about this landmark date, there was little analysis about how ten years of war has affected the fabric of American society as well as our responsibilities as citizens in a democracy fighting wars in our name. This includes a serious examination of services available to veterans re-integrating into U.S. society (in obtaining job placements, accessing physical and mental health services, finding housing, etc) as well as services available to family members of service men and women. It also involves an examination of which members of American society have born the burden of ten years of conflict. As U.S. active military involvement in Iraq officially comes to a close, and U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan draws down, examining the implications of the past ten years (in terms of domestic and foreign policy) will involve a close examination of U.S. civil-military relations.
The recent spate of “aggressive policing” at the Occupy Oakland protest involved two Iraq veterans (one of which suffered permanent brain damage after being struck in the head with a tear gas canister and the another who sustained critical injuries after a police beating). Veterans have often been at the fore of local Occupy protests.
As the Occupy movements continue to evolve, I hope they will result in critical examination of over-looked social issues. I hope it will make us reconsider how we are responsible to each other. I hope we can carry the conversation forward this Veteran’s Day, beyond a simple moment of silence and “thank you for your service” Facebook status.
