On Veterans Day — the 11th day of the 11th month — if you are inclined to thank a military veteran for serving the nation, you probably have to get yourself to a ceremony where veterans are likely to be or visit a veterans hospital. That’s because fewer Americans personally know someone who served in the armed forces, and the gap between the military and non-military families is a wide one.
Part of the reason: The last time we had a military draft was during the Vietnam War. The draft ended in 1973. We’ve had an all-volunteer military in the 52 years since.
During that time, the nation’s military has been engaged in two long wars and several other military operations. “We support our troops” became the bumper-sticker sentiment during the First Gulf War more than three decades ago, and it has remained a constant American theme: “We might not volunteer, and no one we know serves in the military, but we support our troops.”
An American could go years without encountering someone who volunteered to serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard.
During the Iraq War (2003-2011), Jacob Weisberg, the editor of Slate, noted how most Americans were not in any personal way connected with that long operation following the 9/11 attacks. “The main reason that the war remains so remote from the lives of middle-class Americans is the absence of a military draft,” Weisberg wrote, noting that restoring the draft would have made such wars even more unpopular.
Two years ago, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a veteran population of about 15.8 million (about 360,000 of them in Maryland). About 30% of that population was 75 or older, representing generations that had been drafted into service. Only about 8% of veterans were younger than 35. (Most of those in Maryland are between 35 and 54, according to the state Department of Veterans and Military Families.)
While the absence of a draft is a factor in the resulting gap between military and non-military families, lack of interest and willingness to serve are also factors. Ipsos polling last winter found that most Americans would likely recommend vocational training after high school to their child or a young person they knew, and would be less likely to recommend military service.
We should be grateful for those who step up to serve the nation’s defense. We should give thanks to them on Veterans Day. If you don’t know a veteran, find one. Ask around, make some calls. Say, “Thank you for your service” to any man or woman who served.
And while you’re thinking about that, think about this: It would be a lot easier to find someone who served the nation if public service was mandatory.
Pardon me if you’ve heard this before; it’s been a pet point of advocacy of mine for years.
We could close the divide between those who serve and those who don’t with two years of national public service — offering a choice of civic, military or foreign service for every American once he or she reaches the age of 18, with deferment optional until the age of 21, when service becomes mandatory.
We could name the program after the late John McCain, a Naval Academy graduate and survivor of Vietnam War imprisonment who served the nation for decades in the military and in government. McCain was an advocate of public service.
If we ever establish this program, the nation would benefit in multiple ways. Young Americans would serve overseas in an expanded Peace Corps. They could serve domestically in thousands of ways, volunteering to teach and tutor, to work in support of day-care centers, hospitals, nursing homes, fire and police departments. And, of course, those who chose the military would do what those in the military have always done.
Multi-dimensional public service would instill a grand sense of country in every young man and young woman, making them more engaged as citizens and caretakers of our democracy.
It would be a wonderful thing if one day, on a national holiday, we could honor those who served in peace as well as those who served in war.
Non-military public service has taken such a beating this year, with layoffs and furloughs in the federal workforce and good people fired for political reasons. So we’re going to need a program like this. We need to restore belief in the common good and in service to the country.
Dan Rodricks writes for the Baltimore Fishbowl weekly. He can be reached at djrodricks@gmail.com.
