James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© August 20, 2012
REFERENCE:
Dr. Donald Farr, ex-GI and former NASA scientist, creator of the Don Farr Network, along with many other activities including coaching, counseling and teaching at university, has recently had a stimulating discussion of military service. Reading these exchanges moved me to reflect. It is obvious I am referring to men. Of course, women are also a vital part of the military.
DR. FISHER COMMENTS:
Dr. Don,
You may be able to relate to this. Few in the last two generations have served in the military whereas nearly, at least in my experience, the majority of my acquaintances in high school and college were in the military.
When I taught at several universities as an adjunct professor in the 1970s and early 1980s, none were military service bound. They didn't expect to have their lives interrupted with this commitment.
My two sons were never in the service, nor my son-in-law or my daughter Jennifer's boyfriend.
It was part of our culture of transition into adulthood.
My sense is that this is one reason the last two generations have failed to take hold, failed to grow up. They have been stuck in suspended adolescence, cuddled and protected, finding a home in complacency with a penchant for complaining.
No surprise, the majority in Congress has never been in the military. This is also true of academics at our universities, people on Wall Street, in the media, and manning the CEO chairs of our major corporations. They bicker in bombast as if spoiled children.
For the first time in eighty years, neither the president nor the vice president, or the two contenders for this high office have ever served in the military.
A few years ago, I wrote a piece about our culture being "stuck in the sixth grade" (see missive of this title in www.peripateticphilosoper.com, February 7, 2008). We see this every time we turn on our television or read a newspaper or magazine. It is literally a sixth grade recess free for all.
Evidence is in the childish debates of Congress, which is stuck in stalemate, in the way media exploit the salacious headlines of the day, in how the two presidential campaigns spend millions as if money were confetti. Still, these presidential campaigns cannot seem to rise above boring. As incredible as it might seem, we look forward to the return of conventional commercials.
Poor as I was when young, the military introduced me to dregs of society that I didn't know existed, people far worse off than I had been as a boy. It was like finding myself in a Charles Dickens neighborhood in one of his dark novels.
The military was good for me. It taught me to appreciate. It was a good teacher. To my surprise, much as I tend to be a maverick, I found I loved being in the US Navy. I look back on that experience with pride and satisfaction.
In Switzerland, every single man has a military obligation. The same is true of Israel, perhaps other countries as well. The military is good for the soul, especially for the person too big for his britches. It knocks you down and some sense into your head. You learn to follow orders, which, incidentally, is the first step in leadership.
We sometimes forget that the great inventions of society -- be they in electronics or systems -- were first spun off in the military and became common fare before the public-at-large even knew they existed. Likewise, it should be noted that the infrastructure of society is essentially a replica of what the military designed, and so it has been since the beginning of societal history.
The military is often the sounding board to cultural issues as well. This was the first proving station to integration, and still is the best equal opportunity employer. I found the military an important experience in terms of the rites of passage into adulthood. Less I forget it also financed my graduate education to a Ph.D. degree.
Don, your writers are correct. Few have ever served in the military as a percentage of the population, even in a time of war. Our debt to those that served and died can never be repaid. Nor can we ever satisfy the obligation to those wounded in body or soul that limp through the rest of their lives because of what they saw and did.
It might be impossible for those who have never served to understand the sacrifice or the pride one experiences who has served. You can always tell who has served in the military. They are the least bellicose when it comes to military intervention. They fail to see war as a video game.
Be always well,
Jim
* * *
No comments:
Post a Comment