“'What’s it like having people thanking you for your service everywhere you go, James?' I asked. 'You might think this is an exaggeration, but you asked,' he said. 'It’s an act of violence.'”
Mark Taylor
May 27, 2025
Mark Taylor
May 27, 2025
I just found this HuffPost column about Memorial Day and what many combat veterans really think of it. The message and reality of post-combat life for the majority of US veterans of our obscene, manipulated wars for oil and endless corporate profit is unheard by the vast majority of Americans. And most Americans, as noted in the column by vet counselor Scott Janssen, don’t give a crap about what combat vets think, feel and experienced.
Instead, hollow red-white-n-blue performative gestures and cheery “Thank you for your service” greetings and a flag pin are somehow supposed to honor the dead and — in too many cases — living dead.
In my career as a psychotherapist, I counseled a few veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars and what Janssen describes is consistent with what my clients experienced and felt. To some extent they are — like the client Janssen describes — alone, isolated and traumatized, exploited and disrespected by most flag-lapel-pin-wearing Americans.
How we betray the veterans
Most Americans ignore their civic duty to be informed and rise up and act when the government lies and commits crimes in order to send more young Americans off to kill and be killed. The politicians get their Raytheon and General Dynamics campaign bribes and board seats while traumatized vets get a f’ing flag pin.
Now we have Trump and the Republicans callously shutting down services for veterans and firing veteran public employees while they jack up the War Department budget as they — along with the Democrats — follow the orders of Israel, American Zionists and Christo fascists to go to war with Iran.
I encourage my fellow Americans to read Janssen’s column to better understand what we have done — and do — to combat veterans … and are about to do to another generation of young soldiers in Iran.
I especially urge any young person contemplating a career in the military to heed veteran James’ words.
Instead of thanks to our exploited and lied-too veterans, what I feel and offer is empathy and solidarity.
Instead, hollow red-white-n-blue performative gestures and cheery “Thank you for your service” greetings and a flag pin are somehow supposed to honor the dead and — in too many cases — living dead.
In my career as a psychotherapist, I counseled a few veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars and what Janssen describes is consistent with what my clients experienced and felt. To some extent they are — like the client Janssen describes — alone, isolated and traumatized, exploited and disrespected by most flag-lapel-pin-wearing Americans.
How we betray the veterans
Most Americans ignore their civic duty to be informed and rise up and act when the government lies and commits crimes in order to send more young Americans off to kill and be killed. The politicians get their Raytheon and General Dynamics campaign bribes and board seats while traumatized vets get a f’ing flag pin.
Now we have Trump and the Republicans callously shutting down services for veterans and firing veteran public employees while they jack up the War Department budget as they — along with the Democrats — follow the orders of Israel, American Zionists and Christo fascists to go to war with Iran.
I encourage my fellow Americans to read Janssen’s column to better understand what we have done — and do — to combat veterans … and are about to do to another generation of young soldiers in Iran.
I especially urge any young person contemplating a career in the military to heed veteran James’ words.
Instead of thanks to our exploited and lied-too veterans, what I feel and offer is empathy and solidarity.
Read Scott Jansen's HuffPost column - I Work With Dying Veterans: Here's Why I Don't Automatically Thank Them For Their Service.