It seems appropriate that Memorial Day is a Monday holiday,
because it’s the day we’re meant to reflect upon the sacrifices of the men and
women who defend our country.
You know—to express gratitude in some way for their
willingness to trade their lives for the security of our society.
As a military historian with a focus on the human element
of conflict, it’s always been clear to me that the real cost of war isn’t the
treasure, it’s the blood. It’s the sons and daughters who go into harm’s way
and never return, or who return so altered as to never really find their way
back. As we reflect upon those costs, we really ought to consider the suicide
rate of combat veterans; per Department of Veterans Affairs figures, 17.5
veterans killed themselves every day in 2025. That’s 6500 per year. I’m not
going to talk about drug and alcohol addiction or homeless rates resulting from
PTSD; they’re line items on the butcher’s bill, too.
I wonder what that says about our society that we send
these people out to do terrible things on our behalf and then essentially shrug
our shoulders and avert our eyes when they come back not in bandbox tiptop
condition? Kinda feels like a broken contract to me.
Memorial Day marks the “official” start of summer in the
US; rather like acknowledging the dead who made possible the picnics and
fireworks of Independence Day. I kind of shudder to think what Cadet Bonespurs
will do to mark the occasion, in this, our 250th anniversary of nationhood.
He’s certainly been doing his part to increase the population at military
cemeteries, although of course that’s just a collateral part of his primary
goal, which has always been self-aggrandizement and -enrichment.
But it’s Memorial Day and Gratitude Monday. I’m grateful to
my brothers and sisters who, through the generations, have given, as Lincoln
said, “the last full measure of devotion.” I take it personally.
©2026 Bas Bleu
