This week, a member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard was among 78 veterans of U.S. military operations in Iraq to dine with President and Mrs. Obama at the White House. The special event — on the scale of an official state dinner honoring visiting heads of state — expressed the spirit, dignity, respect and gratitude of the president and the American people.
This is a great honor and a highly appreciated gesture from the president. But even though a selection committee of senior enlisted representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard and Reserves chose the veterans to represent the hundreds of thousands of men and women who served in Iraq, should more be done to recognize them on a national level?
There has been discussion — pro and con — about a national “New York-style tickertape parade” for troops who served in Iraq. At the moment, Pentagon officials appear to prefer to wait until U.S. troops are home from Afghanistan as well, as those troops contain many Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn veterans.
But can a single event sufficiently recognize and honor the service and sacrifice of those who deployed to Iraq? Should a national monument be considered? Do we actually need a national gesture of appreciation?
What do you think?
I think only positive things can come out of recognizing our troops more. While I understand that Pentagon officials want to wait until all troops are home from Afghanistan, I don’t see why the nation can’t have a parade now for the ones here, and another one for when all troops are returned. It’s never too early to start showing the troops how grateful we are as a nation to them for their services. I don’t really see how there can be any cons to showing a little more support for our troops.
I think only positive things can come out of recognizing our troops more. While I understand that Pentagon officials want to wait until all U.S. troops are home from Afghanistan, I don’t see why the nation can’t have a parade now for the ones here, and another one for when all troops are returned. It’s never too early to start showing the troops how grateful we are as a nation to them for their services. I don’t really see how there can be any cons to showing a little more support for our troops.
I believe that U.S. citizens already respect and thank service members and veterans enough that a national gesture is not necessary for those who served to know that their service is valued and appreciated but I still believe that having both a parade and national monument would be significant to American history. A parade would be a great way to celebrate the end of a long war while giving service members the national attention that they deserve. A national monument would help signify what this war stood for while preserving the memory of those who lost their lives while serving in this war.
I think it is very important to recognize troops who have served in Iraq. I don’t feel they get enough recognition presently, and I believe a national monument is a wonderful idea. The only recognition of troops I have encountered within the last few months has been on Facebook. After Whitney Houston died, many of my Facebook friends began commenting on the national attention a celebrity death gets as compared to the little-to-no attention a military death receives. I completely agree. The society we live in today needs to better recognize what the troops overseas are doing to serve our country. A national monument would be a good start.