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2010-03-20

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2010-01-19

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:47 PM

FELTS: Veteran equals hero? Not always

By TOMMY FELTS, Voices From the News

What makes someone a “hero?”

It’s a term that gets tossed around a lot these days.

Football players. Comic book characters. The guy who helps you change your tire in the middle of a rain storm.

So, who’s the real deal?

One popular axiom tells us: “Any man or woman who wears the uniform of our country is an American hero.”

But is it true? If so, do we really believe it?

Former prisoner of war John McCain found out how people treat “heroes” when he ran for president last year. After acknowledging his service, opponents wasted no time demonizing and ridiculing him.

McCain’s allies were no better. Reviled by Republicans, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright (President Obama’s radical former pastor) got no sympathy from conservatives, despite his military service in the Marine Corps and the Navy.

Clearly, being a veteran isn’t a free pass. And it shouldn’t be.

Just look at Timothy McVeigh. He was a veteran of the Gulf War. He earned a Bronze Star. He also blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people. He hardly was a hero.

How about John Allen Muhammad? He too was a veteran of the Gulf War. He earned top ratings as an Army marksmen and later used those skills to become the “D.C. sniper.” He killed 10 people and is sentenced to die Tuesday. Again, not a hero.

McVeigh and Muhammad are extreme examples, and not representative of American veterans, but they highlight a truth: Being a hero takes more than just donning a uniform.

Veterans aren’t super-human. They’re not immune to criticism. They’re not impervious to the desire to do bad things.

And they’re not perfect.

Veterans simply are ordinary people who were asked, or who volunteered, to do extraordinary things on behalf of our country.

So why do we celebrate them?

We need look no further than World War II for the answer — not because we should value the service of those veterans over that of fighters in other wars, but because World War II offers the most clear picture of what could have happened without brave Americans respecting their nation’s call to duty.

All of us likely have seen movies and TV shows envisioning what the United States would be like if Nazis had won the war: Jack-booted troops roaming the streets, swastikas flying everywhere, a population terrified and submissive to brutal tyranny.

Oh, and we’d all be speaking German.

But it goes deeper than that superficial setting.

Let’s not forget who the Nazis were and what they wanted to achieve.

If Americans hadn’t fought and died to stop the Axis powers from conquering the globe, people today would be in a world without Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice or Barack Obama. They’d be in a world without Jerry Seinfeld, Alex Rodriguez or even Chuck Norris.

They’d live in a world where many of us, our coworkers, acquaintances, neighbors and family members simply don’t exist.

Why?

Because the Nazis likely would’ve exterminated all those outside the boundaries of Aryan “perfection.”

There are a lot of “what ifs” — possibilities of what could’ve happened after a German victory — but because of the service of 16 million Americans, and the sacrifice of the more than 400,000 of them who died in the conflict, we don’t have to live in those Nazi-fied alternate realities.

For that, and the service of those who followed them, we owe all veterans our thanks.

Thank you for defending us. Thank you for leaving your families so we could remain with ours. Thank you for sacrificing the prime years of your lives so we might enjoy life free from those who would deny us liberty.

Thank you to those who paid the ultimate price.

Thank you to those who survived and carried (or still carry) the wounds, seen and unseen, of war.

When Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller was slain in June, the Patriot Guard — a group of U.S. veterans — was at the funeral. They came with 50 or so motorcycles and parked outside the church service to honor a man many despised.

Why?

Because Tiller was a Navy veteran.

Many of the Patriot Guard members had to put aside their personal beliefs about Tiller’s work, and honor his service to the country. That doesn’t mean they were giving wholesale support to all he had done; it meant they valued his military contributions.

We don’t have to like every veteran. We may not consider them all worth celebrating. But we should respect what they’ve done for us.

Many veterans, of course, are indeed genuine heroes, but it’s more about choices than merely a uniform.

Choosing to serve with honor. Choosing to live life with integrity. Choosing to uphold the dignity of the “veteran” distinction.

Know someone who fits that description? Join me in saying thanks to a hero.

Tommy Felts is the proud grandson of two World War II veterans and is the day news editor for The Ottawa Herald. E-mail him at tfelts@ottawaherald.com

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FELTS: Veteran equals hero? Not always

By TOMMY FELTS, Voices From the News

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.