The 1%: America Insourcing Sacrifice

Reading about the suicides and killings going on within our military ranks is enough to make any military man/woman depressed.

It is heartbreaking to see that 5 soldiers were killed by an NCO who had been in Iraq for almost 3 years of his life. That soldier was a 44 year old National Guardsman. Hardly a kid. How is that part-time soldier supposed to have a life? How are any of our active or reserve component service members supposed to lead a life outside the military with this constant rate of deployment?

Get the deployment numbers down to 2:1 and eventually 3:1? So for a 20 year military career, one is expected to serve almost 7 years away from home? It is just not right.

The only answer has to be that our Congress and our President must deem it so vital to our national security and interests that this is required for our nation's preservation.

If that is the case, then why isn't everyone sacrificing? Why is America insourcing sacrifice to 1% of its population when it is deemed necessary to our national security and interests? I believe that it has gone too far and we are seeing the ramifications of sending service members overseas for 3-4-5 year-long tours. This Operational Tempo (optempo) was not even used in Vietnam and it is absolutely breaking the military.

Let's look at some simple metrics that anyone can understand. The suicides are up. The divorce rate is up. The murders/assaults are up. The PTSD and physical injuries are up. The deaths are up. Those who want to lead a family are getting out. The best and brightest aren't serving in the military. People undeserving of promotion are now being promoted. And most importantly, the gap between the military and those they serve is ever widening.

We are finding out that there are serious consequences for spending 36-60 months of your life in Iraq and Afghanistan while your family, friends and the rest of society continue to live their lives without sacrificing a thing. This issue needs to be addressed... and quickly.

Somehow the pain the military feels by going to war needs to be felt by every member of society so we don't continue to insource the sacrifice to only 1% of us. If it is truly a national security necessity, then the entire nation must participate, including the sons and daughters of the elite. Let them look into their child's eyes before making such a momentous decision and say to them:

"Son/Daughter... I believe in this cause so much that I would be willing to sacrifice your health and possibly your life in order to achieve it"

If that was our litmus test for going to war, I think things would be a little different.

Comments

[ytaveras]

I created an account just to reply to this. Sean, I agree with many of your points and have been saying the exact same thing for years. As a veteran and also as a woman with an active duty husband who is currently on his third tour to the Middle East in the last 4 years and he did a tour in Korea just before the first deployment. In the last 7 years he has only spent 3 on American soil -6 months here, 12 months there, 8 months here, you get the picture. I can assure that it has been hard on our family and our marriage. I had to make the choice a few years ago to get out of the military because of the frequent long deployments. It is hard enough raising kids in a family where 1 parent is gone all the time for deployments, I couldn't let both of us essentially abandon our son every other year.

[Sean Gilfillan - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you both for your comments. I think the fact that the post was not put high enough contributed to the lack of posts, Helpontheway. I do believe that something has to be done, but everyone wants to ignore it. It is a giant elephant in the room that people want to go away. We created the All Volunteer Force, but this is a negative byproduct and this is the first time we've had a chance to see it in action. We have to try to make war felt by all...

[bobWal]

The draft MUST come back. As a veteran I find the tours and sacrifice by our servicemen and women to be sickening. My mailman has done 3 tours as a "reservist" All while the rich get richer on the backs of the poor and the dedicated. What will happen when a large group sits down and says "We have had enough-screw it" Don't kid yourself--the day is coming. The suicides, killings and family disasters are a portrait of the future of our military. War without end can't be sustained by one percent.

[helpontheway]

I just checked back on this page to see the discussion going on only to find out that you were the only other person to post anything-- where are all those people with the "support our troops" magnets? If we can't have a conversation about this here on this blog with civilians, service members, veterans, and military families alike then where is this conversation going to happen? I certainly don't post on every article I read, nor do I claim to make insightful and interesting comments every time I do post something and I'm not hating on those who read the article and didn't have anything to say but I guess I am saying that I'm disappointed that some of the articles in the entertainment section have hundreds of responses and this one has only 2. I was looking forward to reading what other people had to say about this thoughtful article, and to see if majority opinion would favor the draft or some other solution (like ending both wars--which I am also in favor of, but if we MUST be at war then I think everyone should share in the sacrifice) Maybe it's the (somewhat) awkward headline that hasn't attracted people to this article, or maybe it's just as simple as that it's only 1% of us that have our country's 2 wars foremost in our minds... I hope that's not it.

[helpontheway]

I think that reinstating the draft would be an excellent solution to this problem of unequal sacrifice. It won't happen because it would be political suicide, but I think it would wake the rest of the country up to what military families have to face every day: the possibility that a loved one will have to go to war (actually I think the public would have demanded an end to both wars by now if the draft had been reinstated). My husband is in the military and is coming up for new orders in July, it is a very real possibility that he will be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. We knew all the possibilities when he signed up last year and I am proud of him for his service to our country, and he would be honored to serve in a war zone with his brothers and sisters in the military in the service of our country but at the same time I am terrified of losing him. I know that the uncertainty of the reality that my husband and I face is nothing at all compared to the sacrifices that so many other military families have made of multiple tours of duty, the loss of all that time with those they love, PTSD, broken marriages, broken bodies, and those soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives who never get to return to the family life they left behind in order to serve. I