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Past Issues November 2005 Thoughts on Veteran’s Day
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 By Al KorachA few years back, my wife and I were on the cliffs overlooking Omaha Beach in France. It was the year of the D-Day observances. I looked down from the heights and wondered how anyone could have under fire made it to the top of these cliffs. I stood there amid German pillboxes and other defensive shelters and reflected. I thanked God that I was not among those brave men that made the assault. I was still in school — a Chicago public school, by the way. My wife and I then went to the military cemetery and looked at rows and rows of crosses, stars of David and various monuments all under the immaculate care of the U.S. Government. There was some subdued festivity on the tour buses and the areas outside the cemetery. Once inside the gates, the mood became somber and respectful. I left my field grade officer’s hat at the D-Day Museum, and later back in Chicago received a nice thank you letter from those in charge. Marlene and I were thankful that we made the trip and doubt at our ages that we shall ever be back. We have also visited the Punch Bowl Cemetery in Hawaii, along with the Battleship Arizona Memorial. WW II was the last “Great War” that I can recall that everyone knew what the issues were and that the vast majority of us came together. The country was united and in one-way or another supported the troops and issues involved. The minuscule number of those who continued to oppose the war were tiny by comparison to those who sacrificed to win it. Battle casualties have filled many of our cemeteries. According to Defense Department statistics, WW II accounted for 407,316 American deaths. If we include the WW II wounded the total would come to a much higher number.
Since then we have been involved in many other conflicts. There were Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq — and a great many other temporary incursions (the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, to name a few) that we have lost both men and women in. I served proudly in the United States Army. In the years that have gone by, I have become less and less gung ho and more politically realistic. The one reality I have accepted is that the Military did not get us into any of the above situations. All the result of political decisions made for a variety of reasons, some bad, some good. Many of those decisions have come back to haunt us. So far, our latest incursion into Iraq has caused more problems then it has solved, and it will haunt us for many future years. As I have just reached my 76th birthday much of the past has become clearer. The incursions were not military decisions alone but a result of a faulted political and foreign policy. Faulty intelligence has also played a part. I’ve thought of all these things as I’ve read the often heated debates in the pages of this newspaper over the local aspects of the military in our public schools. But I have to remind all of our readers, as this year’s Veteran’s Day approaches, of one reality. You don’t like the Iraqi War? Go after your elected officials that got us there and not a naval high school. The high school is small potatoes compared to the corruption surrounding us. I daily read the many writings by the individuals that have an insatiable need to crap on the military. Is this, as I suspect, a way to promote what I consider their own personal needs? Others have a need to slam the services as a personal need to fulfill some personal shortcoming or at a meeting to be “cool”. I received a lot of military training — none of which made me a “baby killer”. As a lieutenant, I graduated from Medical Field Service School, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. I graduated as assistant battalion surgeon, (administrative, not MD) Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 3506. I also completed the Army Medical Services Company Grade Refresher Course, Management of Mass Casualties, Associate Medical Services Company Officer Course, Army Medical Service Career Course and Hospital Administration. Contrary to various comments, the military is not playing an unjust role in the world. The U.S. military is playing the role placed upon it by the people that we have elected. The military didn’t decide to put a naval academy inside Senn High School (where my wife once worked as a school clerk) — civilians at the Board of Education and City Hall did. If you feel the role is unjust, contact your elected officials or the Commander in Chief. You want to straighten out your military’s role? Start with your leaders in Washington. I guess that for some this will not give an individual enough personal recognition or press coverage at local school council meetings. While all this is going on we seem to be confronted with wholesale corruption in local government, state government, national government, unions, UN Food For Oil Program and the Enrons of the world. It’s time to remember that old saying: “Physician Heal Thyself.” Why are we trying to straighten out the world when there is so much to be done here at home? All we have done is to increase the amount of ill will and hate against us. For many of us, raised at a time when very bad people were only going to be defeated militarily, the military was a choice we made gladly. Do you honestly think that Hitler would have retreated from Russia or across France because he was argued out of his dreams of world conquest and his plan to annihilation the Jews? For some, the military is still an honorable career choice. It saddens us when the military is used for dishonorable ends. But let’s have some perspective. There are many careers in the military to follow. If you decide to become a machine gunner, your career had better center around staying in the military. But if you go to engineer’s school for air-conditioning, aircraft engine repair, heavy machinery, radar, flight controller, there are other options later. To take once example, a generation of civilian airline pilots first received their training in the military — some at places like Midway (not the airport in Chicago, but the island in the middle of the Pacific that was a flaming hell for a couple of days back in 1942). The men who flew commercial aircraft after 1945 may have learned their trade sinking Japanese aircraft carriers between 1942 and 1945, but most of their lives were spent peacefully in the skies. If you have gotten a broad range of training, when you get out, there will be comparable civilian work. I would like to see a break down of the educational qualifications of those entering today’s all volunteer armed forces. As the military’s technology has increased has the current GI’s enlistee’s education kept pace? I did not personally utilize the military as a tool for future civilian work. As an officer, it did give me the opportunity to develop leadership, organizational skills and the ability to express myself in both the spoken word and in writing. Just before I terminated my military career as a Lieutenant Colonel (Plans & Training, 801st Hospital Center USAR S-3), I signed a paper called “hip pocket orders”. In short I volunteered for instant recall should the need arise. About a weeks notice before you have to go. A similar situation faces many today. Then I became a Chicago public school teacher. Well, eventually the military caught back up with me. As I was experiencing mortal combat teaching physical education at the Rogers Elementary School in Rogers Park (dodgeball could be pretty dangerous in those days) my wife called. She told me that I had a “Recall to Active Duty.” I had to report to Fort Sheridan (north of Chicago) on October 8, 1986. I thought for a moment that the Russians must be in Milwaukee for them to call up an old fogy like me. I reported as was my duty, and three days later I returned back to Rogers School and dodgeball. Am I advocating signing up? Hell no! I’m also not telling students to enroll in a military high school, but I’m not denying them this right. This is what this country is all about — freedom of choice. You can join a labor union — or enroll in a military high school — as long as no one forces you to. So! Some kids had to do some pushups. So what? Get a life! Are you now trying to get your doctor to sign a note so your child will get out of gym? Now for the big one! Whether we like it or not this country will always need a well-equipped, well organized, and disciplined military force. How we use it will depend on whom we elect and current local and world conditions. Much of the new military training I’m sure will not be training for combat alone, but will emphasis disaster relief due to realities like Hurricane Katrina. I believe that much of our enlisted military such as in Vietnam was composed of the poor and minorities. They did serve with distinction in a conflict that we lost. I’ll end this article by mentioning my two most valuable experiences. The worst part of my military experience was the burn ward at Brooke Army General Hospital (San Antonio) that taught me the futility of war. Anyone who wants to talk about the glories of war should spend a couple of days with the men and women who will be spending the rest of their lives at that hospital or in one like it. These men and women are the victims who survived one of the worst things war offers human beings: terrible burns and other injuries, including multiple amputations. I hope that some of the teachers and students reading this will spend some time this Veterans Day not only protesting war, but offering something to the people who suffered the worst from their service in past wars. Go to Brooke or to any of the veterans’ hospitals and listen to the people you meet there. There are three major veterans’ hospitals in the Chicago area for those who are interested. Don’t just go to talk about what you think about the military. Listen for a change. And if all you can do is spend a few hours at your computer, at least visit the Brooke Army Medical Center website and spend some time looking at the photo galleries. Remind yourself that these photographs are of the men and women you can look at without crying or having your stomach churn. Yes, war is hell. Please spend some time this month, as we celebrate Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day (which was begun during our Civil War, which was the only way human slavery was going to end in this nation) thinking about how complicated these questions really are. And my best experience in the military? The best was my experience setting up a field hospital to support the Boy Scout National Jamboree at Colorado Springs. This taught me the enjoyment of just being young. |
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