Old Army Buddies?

The Washington Post has a piece by some (non-veteran) guy who looks back with nostalgia about the days when everyone was drafted, his dad included. The "Old Army Buddy" bonds are tight, the author reports.

It's an interesting Memorial Day piece, and rightfully points out statistics such as Congress having 25% veterans now, while it was 75% veterans just a few decades ago. The end of the draft, among other factors, has increased the military-civilian divide, as I have written about on this blog several times.

But the author seems to be the Exhibit A piece of evidence of the military-civilian divide. Why didn't he serve? What does he know? Is the purpose of the article just to throw a bone to peacetime vets? I appreciate that he is essentially saying that peacetime vets (like myself) have unique bonds between them, as do wartime vets. There were peacetime vets in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, too, you know. Why the focus on the 50s and 60s? The article is worth a read, but the author just seems to be missing a few things.

I guess what's so odd is that he has great nostalgia for the days when "everyone served," yet he didn't feel inclined to serve when he came of age.

Anyway, semper fi and happy Memorial Day.

More Afghanistan reporting

As the administration has started shifting priorities from Iraq to Afghanistan, journalists are shifting as well. There are some good stories on Afghanistan recently, with NY Times reporter (and former Marine) C.J. Chivers again leading the pack. Check out this story and video that Chivers recently did. My friend Jake brought this to my attention.

Also, NPR has an interesting series on the Second Battalion of the Eighth Marine Regiment, also known as Two-Eight or 2/8 (pronounced "Two-Eight"). I have particular interest in this because I was a member of 2/8 for three years. I had forgotten that 2/8 is called "America's Battalion," but NPR plays it up.

The media doesn't always identify the units serving overseas, so it's neat to recognize 2/8. It's been tough to track how many times the unit has been to Iraq and Afghanistan since these wars started. 2/8 was in the initial Iraq invasion in 2003, then went back a second time, and also has been to Afghanistan once before. There was possibly a third Iraq trip. That's a lot of deploying, although of course personnel rotate in and out.

Hopefully the press doesn't forget about the 100,000-plus servicemembers in Iraq, but it's good that the operations in Afghanistan are finally getting some attention.