Pay tribute to U.S. military on Armed Forces Day

This Saturday, May 16, is Armed Forces Day. It’s a holiday that emphasizes coming together to honor and thank our military members for their patriotic service to their country in war and in peace. And yet it’s one if those times when you have to remind people, who may shrug their shoulders and say, “Oh yeah,” and go on looking for that coveted parking space. It’s not that they have any underlying animosity toward our military, it’s just that it’s something we don’t think about or often don’t think it affects us today as it used to impact our lives years ago.

President Harry Truman in 1950 led the effort to establish this holiday, and all the military branches were united under the Department of Defense by Secretary Louis Johnson in 1949, thus leading the way to Armed Forces Day. Prior to this act, different military branches celebrated their men and women on different holidays. In fact, today, the whole month of May is set aside for honoring our military.

But the military has changed, and so has the perception of those who serve their country. It’s sort of a back burner thing; at least it often appears that way. It’s like being relegated to the back row of the choir, not that there is anything wrong with that, having sung on the back tier myself more times than I care to count.

Answering the call to serve your country went from an obligation to a volunteer service. Even the uniforms have been morphed into a camouflage outfit to blend into the circumstances of their duty. We are a country that went through an anti-war peace movement in the ‘60s. We’ve seen heroic men and women spit upon, demonstrated against and yelled at, all because they were wearing the uniform of their country.

Past wars were a uniting front for our country. I can remember those photographs proudly displayed on the maple drop-leaf table in the hallway. The pictures always had a smiling face showing above the soldier’s uniform. And color was added by the printer to give those rosy cheeks a pink hue and cerulean for those blue, blue eyes. There were no digital cameras back then. Sometimes the soldier had his arm around his wife or girlfriend. She usually wore a sweater with matching lipstick. Everyone knew or was related to someone in the military.

And then war got dicey with Vietnam being so strange and far away. The media, though, brought it right into our living rooms every night. And we became weary. We grew tired of death. But the men and women still went on, slogging through jungles and mounting all the casualties on the wall in Washington. We questioned; we wondered.

You can’t put a price on freedom and bravery. Whether you are against a conflict or think it is justified, it’s the men and women wearing that uniform who represent your country. When you see one of them, remember the words that should come to mind without question or hesitation: honor, loyalty, sacrifice, bravery, valor and most of all, respect.

For there are different kinds of military doing different jobs, all deserving of our attention. They are the Coast Guard rescuing those at sea, often putting their own lives in peril. They are the National Guard, helping in disasters and being diligent in emergencies.

They are the ones boarding those military planes and coming back with haunting memories that often remain unspoken. They are the ones who never return alive to their home land.

So as Americans, we should stop, pause or put out our flag on Armed Forces Day, this Saturday. It is for everyone who put that uniform on and for their families who also wear a kind of uniform.