How To Thank A Veteran

Previously: Best Evidence For The Book of Mormon

The post I had originally prepared for this Veterans day was another of my overlong diatribes bemoaning the fetishistic military worship that has marked this anniversary for the past decade.  But after re-reading it, I think I came off a bit overly cynical, so I have scrapped that screed in favor of just presenting a few short videos that better express my views, including some words from a handful of American military veterans I very much admire.

But first I'd like to introduce you to someone else I very much admire: Dr. Laurence M.Vance.  Dr. Vance should be of interest to latter-day Saints because he is an expert on the early Christian church, particularly as it existed in the first century A.D.

Since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims to be the modern incarnation of that first century church, we should expect to find Dr. Vance's vast body of scholarship of some use to us as we compare the similarities between that church and the version we embrace today.

Dr. Vance owns a publishing company, and he has made the world of biblical scholarship richer by reprinting 146 rare books that are all but unavailable anywhere else. He is also proficient in ancient Greek and Hebrew, and has translated a number of works himself.

But where Dr. Vance has had the most direct influence on my own thinking is in his research and commentaries on the history and theology of the Christian's duty concerning war.  His book on that topic, Christianity and War, so triggered a paradigm shift in my thinking that I bought an entire case of 36 copies and gave them away with missionary zeal.  I have never before in my life bought a bunch of books just to give them away, other than the Book of Mormon.  That may give those familiar with my miserly ways some idea about how essential I believe Dr. Vance's book to be to any discussion of war as it pertains to the follower's of Christ. I wish everyone would read it, especially my fellow Mormons.

All this is by way of offering one of Laurence Vance's own Veteran's day pieces in this space in liu of my own.  If I could have written something more spot-on about the subject, I would; but everything I could possibly say has already been said better by him.  So, lifted in its entirety from LewRockwell.com, here is Dr. Vance's short essay on whether or not it's appropriate for disciples of Christ to be thanking today's soldiers for their "service."

Thank You for Your Service? by Laurence M. Vance Recently by Laurence M. Vance: The Warmonger’s Lexicon It is without question that Americans are in love with the military. Even worse, though, is that their love is unqualified, unconditional, unrelenting, and unending. I have seen signs praising the troops in front of all manner of businesses, including self-storage units, bike shops, and dog grooming. Many businesses offer discounts to military personnel not available to doctors, nurses, and others who save lives instead of destroy them. Special preference is usually given to veterans seeking employment, and not just for government jobs. Many churches not only recognize veterans and active-duty military on the Sunday before holidays, they have special military appreciation days as well. Even many of those who oppose an interventionist U.S. foreign policy and do not support foreign wars hold the military in high esteem. All of these things are true no matter which country the military bombs, invades, or occupies. They are true no matter why the military does these things. They are true no matter what happens while the military does these things. They are true no matter which political party is in power. The love affair that Americans have with the military – the reverence, the idolatry, the adoration, yea, the worship – was never on display like it was at the post office the other day. While at the counter shipping some packages, a U.S. soldier, clearly of Vietnamese origin in name and appearance, dressed in his fatigues, was shipping something at the counter next to me. The postal clerk was beaming when he told the soldier how his daughter had been an MP in Iraq. Three times in as many minutes I heard the clerk tell the soldier – with a gleam in his eye and a solemn look on his face – "Thank you for your service." The clerk even shook the soldier’s hand before he left. I could not believe what I was seeing and hearing, and I am no stranger to accounts of military fetishes in action. Aside from me not thanking that soldier for his service – verbally or otherwise – I immediately thought of four things. One, what service did this soldier actually render to the United States? If merely drawing a paycheck from the government is rendering service, then we ought to thank every government bureaucrat for his service, including TSA goons. Did this soldier actually do anything to defend the United States, secure its borders, guard its shores, patrol its coasts, or enforce a no-fly zone over U.S. skies? How can someone blindly say "thank you for your service" when he doesn’t know what service was rendered? Two, is there anything that U.S. soldiers could do to bring the military into disfavor? I can’t think of anything. Atrocities are dismissed as collateral damage in a moment of passion in the heat of battle by just a few bad apples. Unjust wars, we are told, are solely the fault of politicians not the soldiers that do the actual fighting. Paul Tibbets and his crew are seen as heroes for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Before he died, Tibbets even said that he had no second thoughts and would do it again. I suspect that if the United States dropped an atomic bomb tomorrow on Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing everyone and everything, and declaring the war on terror over and won, a majority of Americans would applaud the Air Force crew that dropped the bomb and give them a ticker-tape parade. Three, why is it that Americans only thank American military personnel for their service? Shouldn’t foreign military personnel be thanked for service to their country? What American military worshippers really believe is that foreign military personnel should only be thanked for service to their government when their government acts in the interests of the United States. Foreign soldiers are looked upon as heroic if they refuse to obey a military order to shoot or kill at the behest of their government as long as such an order is seen as not in the interests of the United States. U.S. soldiers, however, are always expected to obey orders, even if it means going to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, or Libya under false pretenses. And four, what is a Vietnamese man – who most certainly has relatives, or friends or neighbors of relatives, that were killed or injured by U.S. bombs and bullets during the Vietnam War – doing joining the U.S. military where he can be sent to shoot and bomb foreigners like the U.S. military did to his people? And aside from these four things, I’m afraid I must also say: Sorry, soldiers, I don’t thank you for your service. I don’t thank you for your service in fighting foreign wars. I don’t thank you for your service in fighting without a congressional declaration of war. I don’t thank you for your service in bombing and destroying Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t thank you for your service in killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans. I don’t thank you for your service in expanding the war on terror to Pakistan and Yemen. I don’t thank you for your service in occupying over 150 countries around the world. I don’t thank you for your service in garrisoning the planet with over 1,000 military bases. I don’t thank you for your service in defending our freedoms when you do nothing of the kind. I don’t thank you for your service as part of the president’s personal attack force to bomb, invade, occupy, and otherwise bring death and destruction to any country he deems necessary. Thank you for your service? I don’t think so. July 19, 2011 Laurence M. Vance [send him mail] writes from central Florida. He is the author of Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State, The Revolution that Wasn't, and Rethinking the Good War. His latest book is The Quatercentenary of the King James Bible. Visit his website. Copyright © 2011 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given. The Best of Laurence M. Vance

What If They Had A War And Everybody Came?

The next thing I'd like to offer on this Veterans Day is three short clips from the 1969 British film, Oh What a Lovely War. I was in high school when this movie came out, and didn't see it then because, like all good latter-day Saint youths, I was an unabashed hawk about the war in Vietnam.  Anti-war movies like this one represented anti-patriotic godless anti-Americanism to me in those days. There couldn't possibly be anything worthwhile in a film that went against what I thought at the time were the teachings of my religion.

So two weeks ago I rented Oh What a Lovely War through Netflix, and saw it for the first time.  I still have not returned it. After watching all the extras and commentary, I decided I have to own this movie, so I've ordered a copy off Ebay.  As with those three dozen copies of Christianity and War, actually buying a movie to own is something I seldom do anymore.  Money is too scarce, and life too short to watch the same film over and over.  But this one had an effect on me that grabbed me and won't let go.

At a time when the approach of World War Three is practically a foregone conclusion, it would serve us all well to reflect upon the causes of World War One.  As with our current quagmires, we know how that war got started, we just don't really know why it kept going and how it got so out of hand. Oh What a Lovely War presents the answers both to how the leaders of Europe cavalierly started World War I , and why it kept escalating long after those doing the actual fighting just wanted it to be over.

This first clip demonstrates how easily young men can be duped into enlisting by getting them to see themselves as gallant heroes in the service of their country. As is often the case, pretty hometown girls are employed to do the enticing. This clip features a smooth-faced Maggie Smith, decades before she went on to teach at Hogwart's.



This second clip makes me weep every time I watch it. It shows the British soldiers in the trenches on Christmas eve, just months after the war began.  Trench warfare has brought the war to an early stalemate as each side has hunkered down in their respective ditches.  Just prior to this scene, the British "Tommies" hear the faint sound of the carol Silent Night being sung by some of the German soldiers across the way. The Tommies have responded with a carol of their own, then there is silence until one of the Jerries calls out a friendly proposal.



The closing scene of the film portrays the last soldier to die in that unnecessary war. The final shot is both sobering and impressive, given the fact that CGI did not exist at the time this movie was made:



So You Want To Thank A Vet

I recently came across the following at The Daily Paul:

I am an officer in the US Army and it always makes me uncomfortable when a citizen comes up to me and says, "Thank you for your service." I always felt it was a cop out, a way to make them feel justified for not taking civic action against the government. I finally found the perfect reply to that statement: 

"You can thank me by voting Dr. Ron Paul for president 2012"

Other active duty GIs and veterans have taken up the call of this noble officer; T-shirts can be ordered with a soldier's branch and service dates on the front, and on the back the words, "You Can Thank Me By Supporting Ron Paul."

American veterans are waking up, and it's happening exponentially.  Many are learning just how expendable their own government thinks they are, and they are tired of playing the sap. Soldiers, more than most people, are tired of the status quo. Like many Americans, they've lost faith in the phony left-right paradigm that always promises change, but delivers the same ol' same ol'.

That's why Ron Paul has received twice as much in campaign donations from active duty military personnel as all the other Republican Candidates put together.  Want to see a breakdown of the top contributors to Ron Paul compared to our own Mitt Romney?

Ron Paul                                                                               Mitt Romney
US Army                                  $23,552                                 Goldman Sachs               $367,200
US Navy                                   $23,335                                Credit Suisse Group         $198,750
US Air Force                            $17,432                                 Morgan Stanley               $191,800
Mason Capital Management     $14,000                                 HIG Capital                     $186,500
Microsoft Corp                         $13,398                                 Barclay's Bank                $157,750

You'll notice that those employed by the banks were able to contribute considerably more than those poor grunts who labor in the trenches.

As for me, I support Ron Paul because his position on war is consistent with LDS scripture.

Notice I said LDS scripture, not modern LDS assumptions. The last time a president of the Church addressed the topic was just weeks after our government began the bombing of Iraq, and his tacit approval for the attacks was not very consistent with traditional Mormon teachings.  Hinckley's pronouncement on the war that was then just beginning represented a shameful vacillation that gave lip service to the words of Jesus, but ultimately came down on the side of the State. He did not pretend to have received any any kind of revelation in that talk, but was instead conveying to the congregation what he called "my personal feelings" and "my personal loyalties."


That embarrassing nothing of a conference talk stands in stark contrast to this letter from the First Presidency on the eve of World War II:

"...we do thoroughly believe in building up our home defenses to the maximum extent necessary, but we do not believe that aggression should be carried on in the name and under the false cloak of defense." 

"We therefore look with sorrowing eyes at the present use to which a great part of the funds being raised by taxes and by borrowing is being put.  We believe our real threat comes from within and not from without, and it comes from the underlying spirit common to Nazism, Fascism, and Communism, namely, the spirit which would array class against class, which would set up a socialist state of some sort."

That statement is completely consistent with the numerous war chapters in the Book of Mormon, which can be distilled down to two sentences:

1. God's people are justified when they take up arms in direct defense of their wives, their children, and their lands.

 2.  When God's people take the battle into the borders of another people, God withdraws his protection from them.

If you don't feel like wading through the entire Book of Mormon just to glean those two nuggets, the Lord provides the Reader's Digest version in D&C 98.  In verse 33 He summarizes thus:

"And again, this is the ^alaw that I gave unto mine ancients, that they should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue, or people, save I, the Lord, commanded them."

Ron Paul has proposed removing all American soldiers from foreign lands and closing those 700 foreign bases that have nothing to do with the protection of America.  No wonder he's become so popular with military personnel.  You may want to keep our soldiers in harm's way, and government shills may want to keep our soldiers in harms way, and Obama, and the generals, and the Neocon warmongers may want to keep our soldiers in harm's way, but the ones constantly being put in harm's way never seem to get asked for their input.

So they've come up with a way to make their voices heard. Here is what these veterans want you to think about:



If you love liberty, it's not enough to decide to merely vote for Ron Paul. First, we have to make sure he becomes the Republican nominee in the upcoming primaries.  If, like me, you quit the Republican Party in disgust during the Bush administration, or if you are a registered Democrat, you can do what these Democrats and others are doing for their country.

Put Up Or Shut Up

So. You want to really thank a veteran?  Today's your lucky day. You can start by clicking HERE.


Update, November 14th: The Ron Paul Moneybomb collected almost a million dollars, not as much as previous moneybombs, but an astonishing amount when you realize that a good deal of it came from active duty military personnel.

Update: Eagle-eyed reader Jon informs me that Oh What A Lovely War can be viewed in it's entirety here:
        http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3668247478820281540