A Bloomin' Joke?

Our God and Souldiers we alike adore,
Ev’n at the Brink of danger; not before:
After deliverance, both alike required;
Our God’s forgotten, and our Souldiers slighted
--Francis Quarles
__________________

Several restaurants offered perks to veterans on Veterans Day, but we think Outback Steakhouse took the cake, mate, with their FREE blooming onion (with meal purchase.)

Let me get this straight: I have spine damage, numb hands and feet and my ears ring and buzz without interruption. In addition, I lost my left nut somewhere back there in Vietnam. And I was the lucky one, unlike so many other severely disabled veterans, men mangled beyond comprehension.

So it boils down to this: I gave my left nut for liberty and freedom, and I can claim a free Bloomin' Onion -- great deal! Maybe Ranger can use it as a prosthetic for the missing orb -- an organic Neutical.

Sometimes, when one can't be gracious, doing nothing is best. Why do I feel this empty gesture is actually an insult to veterans?

Veterans Day 2010

I took a breath of fresh air
I took in the view at the top
--I'm Willing, Ben Lee

And let each one perform some part,
To fill with joy the warrior's heart,
And we'll all feel gay when
Johnny comes marching home
--When Johnny Comes Marching Home,
Patrick Gilmore

That valley is fatal when furnaces burn,
Yonder's the midden whose odors will madden,
That gap is the grave where the tall return
--O Where Are you Going, W. H. Auden
__________________

This is a veteran's Day reminiscence.

Ranger has discussed training exercises, which were institutional lessons in misery as the soldier's lot. During training and in life I learned to disconnect and depersonalize to the point of neurosis, which is normal terrain for a soldier. I remember the beauty around me and my inability to see beyond my self-centered misery.

This misery was outwardly-imposed, but later in life it became self-imposed. Misery became a friend, and along with this was a hardness of spirit induced by training and experience. I do not an cannot complain or wimp out decrying the hardness that I voluntarily embraced. But I never thought I would become the hardness, and in turn would add more to the formula.

I developed a technique I called "blinking it off" to deal with unpleasantness or the need for violence. I will simply turn my head and blink, and when I turn back to the previous focal point I am then ready for whatever will happen. This is a conscious depersonalization developed for self-protection.

I have become the numb hardness that cannot be gauged on a Rockwell hardness test. Looking back, I did try to cut slack and go easy on those around me when it was possible, but I also expected them to respond to command. My humanity was a form of inhumanity. My sympathy had an end point surpassed by orders and the needs of the service.

The times I ran afoul of the system were those events when I tried to cut slack for myself and/or for those around me. There is no slack for a soldier, nor is any slack due. We acknowledge this and live within this harsh terrain. This interior is what makes us veterans.

It is not the flags or the parades, the uniforms or the medals. It is the thing that no one will ever see; it is in our minds and is unquantifiable. It is that willingness to obey.

I don't care that I chose a hard road, but I regret that I became the hard road. In modern terms, Ranger has embraced the suck. I also wonder why parents so readily send their offspring to this reality which crosses to unreality in the blink of an eye.

Well, anyway, I'm a veteran but I'll never again don a uniform nor will I ever attend a parade, but I still fail to see or acknowledge the beauty around me.

Beauty is not mission essential.

Veterans Day 2009

When we are at war, America spends billions on
missiles, tanks, attack helicopters and such.
But the wounded warriors who will
never fight again tend to be put on the back burner
--Max Cleland, The Forever War of the Mind

We leave you our deaths.
Give them their meaning
--The Dead Young Soldiers,
Archibald MacLeish
________________

Ranger knows a tad about about Veterans Day and would like to share some personal reactions to the event.

Living life without cable t.v., he is only exposed to it while in public spaces, and a doctor's appointment brought him face-to-face with CNN's coverage of our great national patriotic fervor. It might even warm the heartstrings, if one could see behind the rhetoric.

While the concept of Veterans day is laudable, in truth every day is Veterans Day, though some do not see it. One day of shallow lip service is almost an embarrassment and insult to our service. Ranger is less than impressed by the utterings of the President; simply being able to render a solemn hand salute over dead bodies draped in flags does not a Commander-in-Chief make.

What has happened to society that we allow draft dodgers, drug users and "reformed" alcoholics to assume the mantle of the presidency, thereby becoming C-in-C? Why are such individuals even allowed to preside over Veterans Day services? What right have they to praise our service when they never felt the obligation to serve this nation as warriors?

The last three U.S. presidents think that being a C-in-C is about glad-handing and slapping veterans on the back and stroking us with speeches at the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign War and Disabled American Veterans conventions. And we vets lap it up like hungry puppies, bought off with cheap words of praise.

Ranger is confused by the words and actions on days like Veterans Day. Everybody loves us vets, yet nobody is willing to give us a store discount, nor do the states give us a special price at State Parks or state-run hotels. Ditto federal facilities. The thanks doesn't translate.

The only place we are in the front of the line is at homeless shelters, prisons and employment agencies. The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 25% of the homeless in America are veterans, though they constitute only 11% of the population (Veterans Make Up 1 in 4 Homeless.)

Words of praise from non-military politicians is an insult. You can keep your words.

Ranger prefers real action rather than fanciful ego strokes.