It’s Veteran’s Day. Today we say Thank You to our United States Military Veterans. Yesterday the US Marine Corp celebrated their 234th anniversary. We also mourned the 13 Army soldiers killed on November 5 at Fort Hood. When it comes to our soldiers, sometimes it’s hard to find words for how we feel, but Jason Isbell comes close in his song Dress Blues
Dress Blues is a tribute to Jason’s high school friend, Matt Conley. Cpl. Matthew D. Conley was killed in Ramadi, Iraq on February 18, 2006 when a roadside bomb hit his combat vehicle. He was 21 years old. As Jason says, he was a Marine. As you listen to Jason’s soft ‘Bama drawl over his haunting guitar chords, you realize that Dress Blues isn’t just about mourning Matt, but about the real-life, unromanticized consequences of the sacrifices made by every soldier and every person who has ever cared about a soldier. Each soldier is someone else’s son or daughter, sister or brother, father or mother, aunt or uncle, cousin, friend, manager, employee, neighbor or even grandmother (Lt. Col. Juanita Warman) or mother-to-be (Pvt. Francheska Velez).
Matt is one of 4,365 American casualties to date in Iraq; so far 911 Americans have died in Afghanistan. Two soldiers are currently MIA, Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie and Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl. Every soldier killed or missing shows us what we really have to lose when we follow demagogues or dollars without considering all the options.
Matt was a Southern boy from Killen, Alabama. The South has been hit hard by the Iraq war, as several US Military Bases are located here and a majority of recruits come from Southern states. Odds are strong that, if you’re a Southerner, the Afghan and Iraq wars aren’t just news cycles on CNN or Fox but are playing out live in your living room, in your bedroom or in someone you love thousands of miles away.
One of the worst stereotypes today about the South is the assumption that every white Southerner is conservative, Republican, fundamentalist Christian, pro-war and pro-”boot in your ass”. Add that to the typical portrait of the redneck Southerner as uneducated and stupid with a taste for cruelty, violence and pigs (see Deliverance), you have a dangerous combination for discrimination. Being any of those things may work for a few, but it’s not true as a whole. And whole stereotypes always, always lead to discrimination. It’s discrimination when we assume that every soldier doing his or her duty buys into the fuzzy politics that led to this “Hollywood” war in Iraq. It’s discrimination when we assume that every Muslim is a terrorist. And it’s discrimination when we believe that every person who is against this war is against our soldiers. The American Ideal is respect for the individual and individual rights. If our soldiers are fighting here at home and around the world for the American Ideal, then I thank them with all I’ve got for fighting for my right not to be imprisoned in a stereotype.
So today I give my thanks to the soldiers I know: Thank you, Barry, Uncle Joe and Possum, for serving our country in past wars. Thank you, Robert, for serving in Iraq this last year. The whole Kirkhart family is relieved that you’re stateside now. Thank you, Joe Bear and Julie, for what you endured on our behalf in your recent service to this country. Thank you, Rooster, for being a hometown Marine that I’m proud of. And thank you, Murray, for what you’re doing today – this very minute – for us in Afghanistan. May God bring you safely home to us.
I also give my thanks to all of you, the soldiers I don’t know but think about daily anyway. Remember, Mamas and Grandmamas love you, but that is not all we know how to do: Each one of us has the power to raise our voice and do the hard work to bring all of you home safely. If some of us don’t know where to start, we can take the first step by sending a little piece of home to one soldier at OpGratitude.
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Jason’s song makes me cry every time I hear it.
Who are southern women today? They are smart, erudite, soldiers, teachers, executives and hard to fool, particularly when it comes to issues which affect their families. Sound bites may make the politicians feel good because they don’t have to explain or even be truthful. Thank heaven for politifact (http://www.politifact.com). Many of them with aplomb spout untruths and divisive diatribes aimed at us here in the south, since we seem to walk in sheep-step with the conservation Republicans, no matter the vitriol of their arguments. But be not content o ye self-serving pollywogs. We southern ladies know that if a child is denied an education or health care or allowed to languish, then that child may grow up to pray on our child. If families are forced to buy insurance from the self-serving insurance companies and we are not allowed a public option in a heath care bill of, for and about the American people, then Senator Lieberman watch out, the American people will revolt. Insurance companies have been given free rein for too long to deny hard working mothers and fathers coverage for themselves and their children due to pre-existing illnesses (heaven forbid we change jobs). They have interfered with our treatment and even the drugs which we and our children take. And the kicker is that they can do all of this by phone! Could this be why the AMA supports health care reform (http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/professional-issues/20091111ama-reform.html) that includes health insurance coverage for all Americans, a public option? O.K. ladies I must run off to work. You see I have to help my hardworking prince pay the bills, save for retirement and pay for our insurance. I also need to engage my mind, particularly since my grandchildren seem to get smarter every day even though many of the public school systems in Georgia languish in mediocrity. But then that’s another issue. Nana in Macon ?