First Place for Rude Dude of 2009 has got to be Kanye West – without a doubt. His barging in on Taylor Swift’s moment of honor at the MTV awards is out of reach for anyone to try to take away.

But the U. S. Media is trying hard today (Veteran’s Day, November 11) to climb up out of Second Place. Actually they do it every year, but when my favorite media – ESPN – gets in the act, I sit up and take notice.

The problem is not that the media is totally ignoring veterans. Things certainly are not of the level of lack of honor, or should I say expressions of disdain, that we who were Vietnam Vets came home. I twice returned from combat tours in the ‘60s and don’t recall any standing ovations walking through airports.

The problem is the media somehow can’t differentiate between a Veteran and an Active Duty serviceman/woman. Here me now – our active duty forces (regular, reserve or Guard) are overworked, underpaid, and for the most part underappreciated. We should give them honor and thanks EVERY day. But they are not what Veterans Day is all about.

Veterans Day is the one day a year we remember those who FORMERLY served in the military. We remember all those old codgers drinking beer, inhaling secondary and tertiary smoke and playing bingo at the VFW halls in small town America. (I would join the VFW if I could find a chapter that banned all smoking and didn’t feature an open bar!)

We remember the men and women that Tom Brokaw did so much to honor as the Greatest Generation (and fewer and fewer of them are left). We honor those who lived through the cold and mud and near defeat in the Korean War (whoops, make that Korean Police Action). We honor those of the Least Appreciated Generation for all those years in Nam. We honor the Cold War warriors who kept the peace by silently (and frequently boringly) manning the nuclear weapons and the communications intelligence gathering sites throughout the world. We give thanks to those who served in Lebanon, and in Grenada, and in Mogadishu, and in all those flare-ups of the past decades. We honor those who made coffee for senior officers in the Pentagon. If you served (honorably) in the U. S. military anywhere, anytime, I say thank you.

But little of that comes through, other than a sentence of two here and there, in our media. Nearly all of the features are focused on those who are on active duty today. (I loved seeing that brand new USS NEWYORK on Mike and Mike.) As much as they deserve to be recognized (as Beyoncé probably did), the Kanye-minded media are getting in the way and blocking out our ability to understand what those who served in the past have had to endure.

Where are the features on the disgraceful treatment (no, no, LACK OF treatment) so many get through the VA Hospital system? Where are the editorials about how the government has been denying hundreds of thousands of veterans needed income for decades by taking away their earned retirement pay (which is really deferred income) because they receive VA disability pay? Where is the outrage at the threats to Veterans and their families from our congress about reducing health care benefits for retirees? Surely we can take one day a year out to focus on these people and these issues.

Give honor and respect every day to our active duty heroes. And when Armed Forces day comes around next May 15th, pour on the specials on TV and other media. (Oh, you’ve forgotten that the Active Duty dudes get their own holiday did you?).

But November 11th is for Veterans – for those who previously served. And on the last Monday in May next year, both Veterans and Active Duty can step aside for the day and remember those who paid the ultimate price of losing their lives in defense of our freedoms.

Members of the Media – you’ve got enough intelligence (certainly more than Kanye, right?) to understand the differences of these three distinct holidays – let’s start putting what you know to practice.
_____________________
Don K. Clements
Lieutenant Commander, Chaplain Corps, U. S. Navy (Retired)
Narrows, VA