Thank you for your service somebody shouted.Thank you for your support the marching veteran responded.
New York City seems so far from the wars we are in and the soldiers who are fighting for us, except when you remember the instigating event of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan occurred about three or four miles from the parade, nine years ago.
The day job office is a block away from the Veteran’s Day Parade, which is a pretty low key event as NYC parades go. The crowd was sort of sparse; there was no revelry, just a lot of mutual gratitude and several people looking slightly annoyed their afternoon was slightly disrupted with 5th Avenue being closed off and all. I went last year, but I noticed more young vets at this edition.
I first caught the Air Force brigade. I guess this was an actual F 16 or some sort of plane that was rolling by as a float. The band was playing really great Sousa, no lie.
It was moving actually. Great trombone riffs.
Aim High—Flight Fly Win. Right on.I had to run an errand.
I was catching the parade on my lunch break. The Air Force bunch wore their dress blues, marched like a unit, marched as well as they did when they graduated basic.
When I got back to 5th though, the more casual parade brigades were passing by.
A Woman Veterans unit, in jeans and hoodies, hoody down. There was a banner about survivors of sexual trauma, another for justice for LaVena Johnson, according to Wiki: LaVena Johnson (July 27, 1985 - July 19, 2005) was a Private First Class in the United States Army whose death, officially ruled a suicide, has attracted international attention amid claims she was raped and murdered.
We’re in a new world, a new America, quite frankly a better America, that a patriotic parade can incorporate a protest against Department of Defense Policy without diminishing the patriotism.
Welcome to the Veterans Day Parade—Next Generation!
Following them were Native Americans, long a part of our military tradition. The Authentic American Indian Garb was really cool.
Then the largest contingent that I saw—I did not witness the parade for very long, only a few minutes, guys and gals, YOUNG! Mostly in casual dress, way out of uniform, whooping and laughing, Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans.
Impressive men and women.
Unlike Vietnam Veterans, these kids are not waiting 20 years for recognition by a nation, our leaders or more importantly, the Veterans Administration.
Vietnam Veterans got screwed over.
Three times in the last three elections, a Vietnam Veteran failed to win office (okay, Gore won but, well, you know what happened).
And while the Baby Boomer generation changed the nation, the veterans did not lead their generation when it came time for that generation to take over.
In fact, Vietnam Veterans until the 80s tended to embody the rancor of the upheavals happening at home during the 60s & 70s. They got blamed somewhat, unfairly but still.
Not so with Generation Y I predict.
It’s unfair to compare them to the Lost Generation or the Greatest Generation, you know, World War I and World War II Veterans—those wars touched the majority of the nation and the Afghan and Iraq conflicts were fought by kids paying off college loans, not by the rich or by draftees. Not by everybody.
But these wars have lasted too long, the country remains polarized, and while debate still rages about the invasions, occupations and when and how to withdraw, support the troops has been one of the few points of agreement now unifying the nation.
I predict, then when Generation Y turns about 40, the age when most politicians start politicking and getting attention for their leadership, the majority of those leaders will be from the ranks of the veterans. I think they will be liberal and conservatives, I am not predicting less polarization. I just think that like veterans returning home after World War I & II they will have a bigger impact on the course of the future nation than the veterans of Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I, and the all the smaller skirmishes in-between have had.
I was too young for Vietnam, but I went to college with Vietnam veterans, a lot of them. These cats were hurting. This was before Born in the USA and Platoon; nobody was talking about the war, only a few years after it ended. I think back to those classmates; they were quiet and a little older. I knew them slightly.
The new crop of war veterans, many of them are hurting, but they are not going to be quiet about it and they are coming of age in a culture that does not encourage you to be quiet. We are all about speaking up, we are all about empowerment!
I saw more hooded sweatshirts with the Iraq/Afghanistan veteran logo than I did soldier uniforms. They already have taken over the Veterans Day Parade, this generation is about to do the same with America.
God Bless them.
Vets from whatever generation, Thanks!
When the parade is over, let’s all pray for peace.
Then the largest contingent that I saw—I did not witness the parade for very long, only a few minutes, guys and gals, YOUNG! Mostly in casual dress, way out of uniform, whooping and laughing, Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans.
Impressive men and women.
Unlike Vietnam Veterans, these kids are not waiting 20 years for recognition by a nation, our leaders or more importantly, the Veterans Administration.
Vietnam Veterans got screwed over.
Three times in the last three elections, a Vietnam Veteran failed to win office (okay, Gore won but, well, you know what happened).
And while the Baby Boomer generation changed the nation, the veterans did not lead their generation when it came time for that generation to take over.
In fact, Vietnam Veterans until the 80s tended to embody the rancor of the upheavals happening at home during the 60s & 70s. They got blamed somewhat, unfairly but still.
Not so with Generation Y I predict.
It’s unfair to compare them to the Lost Generation or the Greatest Generation, you know, World War I and World War II Veterans—those wars touched the majority of the nation and the Afghan and Iraq conflicts were fought by kids paying off college loans, not by the rich or by draftees. Not by everybody.
But these wars have lasted too long, the country remains polarized, and while debate still rages about the invasions, occupations and when and how to withdraw, support the troops has been one of the few points of agreement now unifying the nation.
I predict, then when Generation Y turns about 40, the age when most politicians start politicking and getting attention for their leadership, the majority of those leaders will be from the ranks of the veterans. I think they will be liberal and conservatives, I am not predicting less polarization. I just think that like veterans returning home after World War I & II they will have a bigger impact on the course of the future nation than the veterans of Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I, and the all the smaller skirmishes in-between have had.
I was too young for Vietnam, but I went to college with Vietnam veterans, a lot of them. These cats were hurting. This was before Born in the USA and Platoon; nobody was talking about the war, only a few years after it ended. I think back to those classmates; they were quiet and a little older. I knew them slightly.
The new crop of war veterans, many of them are hurting, but they are not going to be quiet about it and they are coming of age in a culture that does not encourage you to be quiet. We are all about speaking up, we are all about empowerment!
I saw more hooded sweatshirts with the Iraq/Afghanistan veteran logo than I did soldier uniforms. They already have taken over the Veterans Day Parade, this generation is about to do the same with America.
God Bless them.
Vets from whatever generation, Thanks!
When the parade is over, let’s all pray for peace.
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