On this Veterans Day, I recommend Breach of Trust by Andrew Bacevich. The author posits that our reliance on 0.7% of the American population to carry out all our military efforts undermines our decision-making, our leadership, and our principles since nobody else has “skin in the game.”
The Vietnam War was fought by American actors, professional baseball players, Harvard professors, Harvard students, the rich and the poor. We all cared, paid attention, and wanted it over so we could get our boys home. Current American reliance on an all-volunteer army means everybody else can ignore or make up fictions about conflicts.
Veterans deserve our thanks, but more importantly, they deserve a committed, aware country.
Act
How would your behaviors and attitudes change if your little sister, your husband, you daughter, or you were to serve in the military?
That’s how we should hold our politicians, our think tanks, and ourselves accountable to ongoing military action somewhere in the world.
Thought Ripples by Wendi 
Maybe, like Israel and other countries, everyone should have some mandatory service. It would give kids as well as parents a new perspective. And hopefully, respect. Respect is something that is sorely missing in our country today.
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