For the first three decades after Vietnam, being in the military was not cool. My parents explained how many Americans were unable to separate the war policies of the Johnson and Nixon administrations from the soldiers carrying out those policies, many of whom were draftees to boot. In high school I read autobiographical accounts from Vietnam veterans who described being spit on in airports- even attacked- after barely surviving a hell on earth that those spitting on them had often found a way to avoid.

When I got to college, things were orders of magnitude better, but wearing your ROTC uniform was still not hip. Kids hoping to live out their own revolutionary fantasies would occasionally heckle us. One student told me: “Don’t die for your country dude,” others shouted “baby killer” at us. Local residents called the police to report us when we would go on early morning forced marches in full gear. Some professors noticeably condescended us when we wore our uniforms to class. The university had been trying to kick our ROTC unit off campus for decades. It was 1998.

For a brief moment in 2001, being in the service was both cool and properly respected. Citizens and politicians alike exhibited a guarded and appropriate reverence for young Americans’ sacrifices while serving in uniform. My parents’ friends were suddenly impressed with me. I was no longer on the fringe; I had street cred.

By 2004, things were still warm and people would sometimes offer to buy you drinks (which I declined), but a noticeable rift had formed in my perception. Americans were being over-exposed to nationalistic, jingoistic, troop-supporting rhetoric by politicians and media outlets, and were fatigued by it all. Also, they were increasingly skeptical about the Iraq War and the government that had sold it to them. At this point, pols began invoking the “needs of the troops” at every opportunity and using it as an unassailable position to attack their political rivals, with no thoughtful, logical concern for the troops they allegedly supported. Chevrolet began running ads with veterans and every sporting event, no matter how trivial, suddenly had a military color guard. The yellow ribbon magnets were everywhere. Even I was sick of it.

I was sick of it because it was hollow. It was patronizing. The sincere respect from 2001 and 2002 was gone. We had gone from being un-hip; a marginalized and misunderstood aspect of our federal government, to being heroes, to being rock stars, to being pawns in strategy shops from the Beltway to Madison Avenue, being used to create positive brand associations for products and politicians.


Tonight I put on the RNC convention. Fred Thompson was at the podium, talking about John McCain. On one hand, he effectively reminded me how remarkable Sen. McCain’s service in Vietnam really was, the details of which have been lost in the stump speeches and are truly impressive. On the other hand, Thompson poisoned this extraordinary story by coating it in transparent rhetoric and asserting that McCain’s experience alone makes him the de facto voice in politics for American veterans. Thompson then paraded McCain’s sons, a Marine and Naval Academy midshipman, in front of the delegates.

Is it possible to exploit yourself? Thompson’s RNC-scripted tribute aside, McCain himself has lately been beating voters over the head with his war experience, and in increasingly inane ways. When Jay Leno asked him jokingly if he could list the number of houses he owned, McCain switched to serious mode and explained that he had once been a POW. While one had nothing to do with the other, the symbolism of this exchange is important: John McCain, a war veteran who used to hold that experience close to his chest and debate issues on their merits alone, now uses that experience as carte blanche to defend any position, even one as benign and bizarre as not knowing how many homes his wife owns.


There are two major problems with the over-“honoring” of veterans by politicians. The first is that it is hypocritical. McCain’s campaign portrays him as the veterans’ candidate even though he campaigned against the Webb-Hagel GI Bill overhaul (the most important piece of pro-troop legislation in years) and tried unsuccessfully to launch a counter bill with watered down benefits. The second problem is that while both the DNC and RNC are rolling out their own veterans’ tributes, complete with Spielberg-directed films and McCain buddies wearing Medals of Honor, the bombast about honoring veterans on the campaign stage is not how our country actually honors veterans in the real world.

Even after it got cool to be a veteran for the first time since 1945, many veterans are still unequipped to succeed outside of the military. 195,000 are homeless according to the VA. Thousands are recently wounded, their expensive care being fought for tooth and nail by exhausted spouses. Those transitioning to civilian careers are constantly trying to figure out how to convince new employers that their experience in uniform is not only relevant but also competitive. “You don’t have work experience,” a headhunter recently told me after reading my resume. “You have world experience” (whatever that means). Americans like to talk about how brave and dedicated our country’s veterans are, but apparently taking a cue from our politicians, talking about it is often where it ends.

Thankfully, Vietnam’s abuses of veterans are a thing of the past. I wonder though, if veterans are any better understood today than they were then.


[Correction: original print stated Sen. McCain voted against the Webb-Hagel GI Bill. He abstained.]