Veterans: Three Destructive Notions

There are three versions of the American service member that are perpetuated throughout the American imagination, and each one of these is damaging.

The first of these iterations is the oft-popularized American deity. Popular culture has promoted this service member via cinematic depictions of bravery, often based in-part on actual events, but the deity is also something built up in the imagination of service members and veterans themselves. One sees this disgusting characterization rear its ugly head each time a veteran leans on their service as the attempt to argue a position to a civilian. “As a veteran…” or as it is more commonly used “As a combat veteran…”. What makes these statements even more egregious is when they introduce a position that has absolutely nothing to do with the military. One can understand the importance of a first-hand veteran perspective when the conversation is about an action taken in an operation environment or, perhaps, on military policy, but it is hard to find the relevance when the conversation is about something like recently popularized gender ideology or the recent mail-in voting debates.

What’s more is the willingness that many veterans seem to accept this role as an American god. One can only wonder how many “Thank you for your service” remarks it takes to brainwash someone into believing their status as a veteran places them on a higher plain than their fellow citizens, but regardless, it is disconcerting. We can all appreciate the heroes that serve—as the number of actual heroes are few and far between—but we can also acknowledge the fact that simply serving does not make one a hero or a pillar of ethical, moral, or political wisdom. Being a service member or veteran does not make one infallible.

Turning once again to popular culture, the second version of the service member or veteran is what I like to call “the robot.” Watching any number of popular television shows will illustrate exactly what is being talked about here. When a service member is depicted as being the witless, unthinking tool of the government, programmed through training and deployments to follow orders unquestioningly, as if regulations and a uniform completely erase the human being, it is absolutely appalling. This is also how many left-wing activists seem to view our military as well. Whereas people right-of-center will usually fall into the trap of the deity, one finds that the notion of the brainwashed killer is something the left gravitates to so as to demonize service members and veterans. When veterans came home from Vietnam they were labeled “baby killers.” This idea hasn’t faded away as much as it has simply changed its lexicon. The service members who assisted in operations at the border are Nazis, and those who work to keep the peace in cities set aflame by rioters are fascists.

We don’t exactly help ourselves in this regard. By failing to define ourselves by who we are as individuals and, instead, choosing to define ourselves solely by our careers—which is something that occurs seldomly outside the military—we welcome this kind of depiction. We must seek to understand that our career is not who we are—that we are still individuals, with all that entails.

Finally—and possibly the worst—view of American service members come from within our community. The advent of social media and technologies like snapchat, tiktok, and Twitter have allowed for service members and veterans to become popular by sharing ridiculous videos based on military themes and experiences. As much as these might be humorous, as well as entirely relatable for those of us who understand the context, the view created of veterans and service members via this medium is that of the man-child. These depictions show our men and women in uniforms as people handicapped by a severe and permanent immaturity as well as making light of some very destructive or, at least, abhorrent behaviors. Videos making light of drinking, adultery, and questionable sexual content bordering on harassment and assault do not reflect well on the military as a whole, and even less on those that continually pass these supposedly funny videos and memes from person to person.

One is left wondering if veterans and service members give a single thought to what these videos tell those outside of the military about us. Without understanding the culture that exists in the military, does a civilian have the kind of experience and contextual information to fully understand these videos and memes without passing negative judgement on the community as a whole? I recently came across a video that made light of veterans attempting to sleep with the spouse of one of the members of the command/NCO chain; in what world is this behavior considered acceptable? Is this who we want to be seen as?

All of these creations could not be further from the truth of who we are as service members and veterans. We are the silent professionals and guardians of the country: silent, sure, and humble; but it is past the time that we work to manifest this image in the way those outside the military community see us. But not only is it time the community of service members and veterans begin to work toward changing the way civilians see us but the way we see who we are: not as heroes but as servants, not as robots but as individuals, and not as the maturely crippled but as the proud and intelligent professional warriors this country requires.