A Modest Proposal: Veterans Day For Veterans

suggestions about what we might actually do for this national holiday

Today once again, it’s Veterans Day here in the United States, a federal holiday that was established to honor veterans who served in the various branches of the armed forces. I've long had some ideas, feelings, and opinions about what, if we lived in a better world, a nation of fairer and more thoughtful people, observance of Veterans Day might look like.

I don’t imagine that any of the proposals I’m going to set forward will ever be enacted, and quite likely many people will disagree with me about them, including fellow veterans. But I saw this Facebook memory this morning, and decided that perhaps this would be the year I’d set those down in more than just summary form for once. Here’s the memory:

I’ll add another memory from much further back, not all that removed from the time that I had served in the US Army, gotten out and gone to college. It’s a simple incident, but one that stuck with me all these years, and first got me thinking about what a better Veterans Day might look like.

It was the early 1990s, and I was short on cash, so I drove over to the bank where I had my account, hoping to withdraw some cash. ATM cards existed, to be sure, but I didn’t have one at that point, so I was going to walk in, fill out the slip, and get the money I’d need before I had to go to work. When I got to the door, I discovered that the bank was closed, and the sign said that they had given their staff off for Veterans Day. It’s a federal holiday, so it’s up to private companies what they want to do on it. And I just happened to bank at a place that decided to close that day.

It definitely wasn’t the end of the world. Back then, I didn’t have any credit cards, just checks and cash. So I was short on money for something, what precisely I don’t even remember more than 3 decades later. But it was an inconvenience. And in my view an irony as well. Here it was Veterans Day, and as a veteran I still had to work and couldn’t get my money out, precisely because non-veterans had been given off for Veterans Day. It seemed entirely backwards to me. That’s when I came up with the first idea about what ought to be the case on Veterans Day.

If we really do want to make it a holiday that celebrates or honors the people it supposedly does, here’s what I think we ought to do. EVERY veteran should be given a paid day off work on Veterans Day. The only possible exception I see as reasonable would be those who were dishonorably discharged. Veterans who work for the government, the government should pony up their wages for that day. Veterans who work for private companies, well it’s time for those companies to put their money where their “thanks for your service” mouth is.

Along with that, I’d also suggest one other major change. NOBODY ELSE gets the day off for Veterans Day. If you served, you get the day off, because they day is supposedly to honor you and your fellow vets. If you didn’t serve, then there’s no reason why you should get a paid holiday, as far as I can see.

My second proposal is bound to be much more controversial. I’d eliminate the throwaway catchphrase “thank you for your service”. Back in the 1990s, I didn’t have to hear that all that often. After 9-11, I’ve heard it so often that it’s become meaningless. It might actually be heartfelt from some people. But I think much more often its just bullshit, intended more to make the people who say it feel good about themselves than to convey any real appreciation on their part. It’s almost a mindless reflex-action on the part of many, something they mumble just out of force of habit.

(I’d maybe make an exception for veterans saying it to fellow veterans, but in my experience it isn’t really the sort of thing that vets do say to each other. I know I’ve never said it to a fellow vet, and think it would just be weird to do so.)

Really, if the goal is to convey gratitude to veterans for having served in the armed forces, there are myriad much more tangible ways one could do that. Some of these are at the level of individual actions. You want to thank a veteran for their service? Cool. Buy them a meal. Fill up their tank of gas. Make them a card and write some actual thoughts down in it. Ask them how they’re doing, and stick around to find out the answer. That’s how you can genuinely thank someone. Talk is cheap, and “thank you for your service“ is basically a worn out penny. You want that feel-good moment? Actually do something for a veteran.

There’s much more that could be said and done along these lines. More systematic matters. If you claim to honor and care about veterans, but you have no idea what the local VA hospital is like (some can be very good, some can be quite bad), you might want to get cracking on finding out. There’s a lot of support that veterans could use, are entitled to, and sometimes don’t get. If you want to show appreciation for the service and sacrifices armed services members have made, one solid way to do that is to advocate for their care.

Now, there’s probably plenty of veterans out there who do like people saying “thank you for your service”. And they might take issue with me saying that much of the time it’s a meaningless gesture. They might also think that I’m overstepping by suggesting people stop saying those words. That’s fine. They can say what they want to say, express their feelings, talk about their experiences. I also get to say what I think. I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only person who thinks that catch-phrase, unconnected to any meaningful actions, is really just a waste of breath.

The third proposal I suggested is that people who steal valor, that is, who pretend to have served when they didn’t, or - and this is just as egregious in my view - people who did serve but pretend to have served in fields or units that they didn’t, should be seriously punished. There is indeed a Stolen Valor Act of 2013 out there, which criminalizes wearing certain unearned medals or badges, with the motivation of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefits.

I’d say we ought to go further. Anyone who didn’t serve shouldn’t wear military uniforms, period (the one exception I can think of would be when acting in a play or wearing a halloween costume). Those who did serve should wear their uniforms, not those of any other services or units. Nobody should claim they did things in the military they didn’t do. All of that, I would say, should count as “stolen valor”, and should be punished. Politicians in particular who lie about what they did in the military should be removed from office.

To me, all of these proposals seem reasonable and fair. I expect many other people will say they’re not either of those, and they’ll also point out that they’re impracticable. Fair enough. People get to have their own opinions. Of course here, in this little space, since there are so many other spaces available for the nay-sayers, polemicists, and reply guys, on this particular issue of Veterans, it’s mine that gets expressed.