While reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and taking your hat off during the National Anthem are a few of the ways we honor our nation's colors, there lives a man in Richlands, North Carolina who chooses to honor the flag differently. He's a double leg amputee, always wearing a Vietnam Veteran cap about our town, who operates a motorized wheelchair adorned with both American and POW/MIA flags. While I have never spoken to this veteran, one thing he has taught me is to honor sacrifice more.
On a sunny day in May, I drove past him near Town Hall as he saluted our nation's flag. I noticed he saluted out of uniform and wondered why. Perhaps for reasons other than respect for Old Glory. Having earned the Purple Heart in Afghanistan in 2010, I sometimes resent the Marine Corps for sending me on that mission. This fleeting resentment has grown weaker as I continue healing from my wounds, but for the remainder of my drive home, I pondered how someone who had lost so much more than me could still render a military salute. How someone with such permanent ailments could be so forgiving of his country left me with a lasting impression.
To rid myself of enmity, I often think back to moments that fill me with pride. My tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan are of exceptional meaning to me, and the losses I have seen and incurred changed me for the better over the years.
I know a woman named Ms. Veronica Ortiz-Rivera, who lost her husband, Marine Staff Sergeant Javier Ortiz-Rivera, while he served with my unit in Afghanistan in 2010. Shell casings folded into a four by eight ensign represent his honorable career. For families of the fallen or passed, a folded flag symbolizes the selfless service of their loved ones. To me, the red represents the blood they were willing to shed in its defense.
Veronica was left to parent three children after her husband's death. She has been a pinnacle of strength for her family and serves as an ongoing inspiration to other Gold Star widows and widowers. When I asked her what the flag means to her, she remarked how she will never look at it the same way. "I remember a flag draped box... the American flag now represents bloodshed, the lives lost and the heartache freedom has cost me."
Being an American means I am part of the greatest nation on earth. The pride I feel for having fought for our nation is immeasurable. But with that comes the heartache that Veronica and I share, for our contributions to our nation are marked with the many anniversaries of lives lost, so I fly my flag in honor of men like Staff Sergeant Ortiz-Rivera and the Richlands stranger. Both have taught me the honor of service and self-sacrifice.
On this 236th anniversary of our nation, I stand inspired by the veterans of our country for who my flag will fly half-mast today. It's often simple to walk past the flag and think nothing of it, but for the fathers, nieces, sons and daughters who have deployed forward to leave their mark on our country's history. This year alone, 157 service members have made the last full measure of devotion in Afghanistan. Another 154 have taken their lives on active-duty. All of their memories will live on today as the rest of America celebrates the ideals for which they served and sacrificed.
This unnamed veteran from Richlands will be my personal inspiration. He will be on my mind as I celebrate Independence Day this year with my friends and family. Because of him I will spend time honoring those lost, both known and unknown to me. On this Fourth of July, because of veterans like him who gave some and others who gave all, I will be a new person. I will be someone who appreciates more of the sacrifice from those that came before.
Thomas J. Brennan is a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served both in Iraq and Afghanistan with the First Battalion Eighth Marines. Now, 27 and still on Active Duty, he is stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Brennan is a spokesperson for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
On the other hand, the same kind of act of "honoring colors" is also one the most commonly used identifying indicators for violent criminal gangs.
Behind all the fine phrases and sentiments that are always on patriotism like fleas on a dog, is the reality that the strongest "colors honoring" factions get to write the scorecard about who is part of the gang, and who is part of the government.
The line separating "gang" from "government" is not stable and crisp, but mobile and blurry.
There is nothing sacred about a flag, ours or anyone else's flag. We don't need a flag. We would be better off with no flag. Just be humans, without uniforms and flags.
Flag-honoring is a form of idol worship: a "God" is said to be inside a piece of specially colored cloth, instead of in some nasty dried-blood-and-fish-scales idol of Ishtar or Cthulhu.... "as the pagans believe" you know.
Spiritually, there is little to choose between worshiping a bloody idol, or a bloody flag.
It's only vanity to think that our little speck of a flag in an infinite universe is somehow supernaturally powered or godlike.
While I appreciate your words, SGT. Brennan, I would appreciate action more.
As our servicemembers return from overseas -- some no longer among the living -- it is easy to forget that we still owe these people for the time that they served.
For some this means providing them with an education and assisting them as they move into a new career.
For some this means caring for their wounds, both physical and mental, that are the inevitable results of conflict.
For some this means looking after their families. For those who paid the ultimate price in our overseas campaigns this is what they now need the most.
Flying flags and setting off fireworks is all well and good. We should take the opportunity to celebrate our nation and enjoy the time we have with our families. But when July 5th rolls around we need to CONTINUE caring for our veterans and their families.
The good name of the United States of America is itself in jeopardy if we do not keep our promises.
There can be no good reason to insult Sergeant Brennan. Please retract your remarks and don't assign blame to a Marine who answered the call.
Thank you.
Neither Iraq or Afghanistan are or were threats to the US. But people like Ol' Sarge there, who volunteer to fight those wars, are. Glowdotor is exactly correct.
And before you throw the "you never served" card, I'll match my honorable discharge, and those of my family, with anything you got.
"I was born, lucky me, in the land that I love."
See? EVERYBODY thinks that their little anthill is the "best durn place" in the world.
Patriotism is bunk. It is a convenient tool for old men to send young men and women off to war to kill and die. Patriotism is the ugly chauvinistic face of the pot-bellied beer-tent jockey screaming insults at muslims and "commies".
Honestly, if you're all swelled up with pride this July 4th, ask yourself why? Are you really so special just BECAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT OF BIRTH?
You can be proud of this country and what we have accomplished while acknowledging the warts.
Yours is just as extreme as the beer tent jockeys...........
It's easy for the hate America crowd to get wound up on this issue. We can all armchair quarterback on what would have happened if we hadnt't fought in Korea/Vietnam/Iraq/Afghanistan. All we know is what happened. But we don't know what would not have happened if we hadn't. Were these efforts a waste of precious blood and treasure? Or did they prevent something much worse from happening. We can't know for sure.
What I do know is that the world has been as peaceful as it ever has been in modern times since the Pax Americana began after WWII. Look back at any time before his and see ow much death and destruction went on in the world. That's quite an accomplishment and one that I am very proud of our country for performing.
We do know for sure what those wars were fought for: empire, oil, an external "enemy" to detract people from the mess at home, the interests not of freedom or the American people, but for the ruling class.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/15/think_again_war
by what quantitative measure is this even remotely true?
consume the most? there's an idea.
If people like you would stop volunteering to fight wars that have nothing to do with keeping our counrty safe perhaps those wars of choice would stop.
No US military personnel have fought for our country since 1945. Many of us have fought, suffered and died for corporate profits and political agendas, though.
The guy in the wheelchair was probably drafted so I can cut him some slack. But you choose to perpetuate the evil that politicians and CEOs do.
If you really want to be taken seriously in that you appreciate "more of the sacrifice from those that came before" resign from the marine corps and spend your time doing something that really benefits My Country, not someting that serves to weaken it.
lonesometx
US Army
11C1U
1971 - 1973
I do have to add that the United States Constitution -- and therefore American freedom -- has never been threatened by a foreign power. All the country's wars were fought for other reasons, some valid, some not.
The real threats to the U.S. Constitution, and the reason for the Bill of Rights, are the would-be tyrants in our own government.
I don't think that you can fully appreciate how insulting this protestation is to nations who are allied to the America for it tells them that you think that they are all second best. Which clearly is not the case if the metric is credit rating, longevity, infant mortality or a whole host of other parameters. This protestation of American exceptionalism is both silly, and harmful.
Patriotism is not about a flag. Patriotism is about home. To say "I do not believe in patriotism." is to say "No, I will not defend the people I love". No man ever went to war to fight for "democracy" or the "flag" or his "nation". We fight for our families, for the people who make our lives whole. We are fortunate in this country that so few of us pay that price and so many reap the benefits.
Patriotism, like love, generosity and all the noble sentiments, can be perverted and misused, but to cast it aside is to cast aside the sacrifice in blood and spirit of the bravest and best. Not just those who fought on the battlefields, but the countless millions who stood behind them, who prayed for their safe return, who went to work every day and did their job so we could build a strong nation. The ones who served honestly and well in county commissions, city halls, state and national congresses, following the dictates of their hearts and minds to help their fellow men. For every soldier, for every medal, there are a million who's names will never be known, who served faithfully and well without medals or fanfare. These are the ones who deserve your allegiance. They are what "patriotism" is all about.
Yes, in theory, that's who we should be fighting for. But, is that why we fought in Vietnam? In Iraq? We fought most, if not all, 'wars' since WWII to retain economic dominance over the world, and insure that more equitable forms of government would not be allowed to succeed and therefore set a precedent.
Patriotism properly applied is a noble concept, and means willingness to sacrifice for those we hold dear. It has nothing to do with the 'patriotism' as used and practiced since WWII.
If we must feel allegiance to a physical "home", make it the whole Earth, or more, not some temporarily-named artificially created part of , in hostile opposition to the rest.