Thoughts on US Veterans Day

WASHINGTON, DC—“This isn’t a major, major holiday,” our hosts said of Veterans Day, which the United States celebrated Tuesday, even if most offices and schools were closed.

The centerpiece of the celebration, it seemed, was the concert titled “The Concert for Valor,” which paid tribute to the courage of “the fallen,” American soldiers who fought and died in various wars. But also in focus during the concert were the survivors, including the wounded, and the families of veterans who made as much of a sacrifice as the men and women who took up arms.

The public was told that about 100,000 would troop to the national mall, the area between the US capitol and the Washington Monument. But it seems even that was an underestimate, as some 200,000 were reportedly at the event.

The concert was covered live by HBO here, and, considering the odds of making one’s way to the mall and finding a strategic place to listen to the performers, I decided the best option was to repair to my room and watch it on TV. Truly moving were the tributes paid to veterans and their families led by celebrities, a lineup that included Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Jamie Fox, Jack Black, Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey. And while the concert was free, the hosts pointed the audience to several sites where they could direct donations to groups helping veterans.

Opening the concert were Jessie J and Jennifer Hudson, followed shortly by, in no particular order, Carrie Underwood, the Black Keys, and, later, Rihanna and Eminem. Bruce Springsteen made an earlier appearance with a band to sing “Fortunate Son,” and later made a solo appearance with his anthem “Born in the USA,” which, it now emerges, is really an antiwar song.

But I failed to catch the latter part of the concert. When Metallica came on, a band which is apparently, so the US media assert, a particular favorite among soldiers, it was too much for my middle-aged ears to take.

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THE video tributes to veterans were touching, indeed. There was the story of a bone surgeon whose two sons had enlisted soon after 9/11, and who lost one son to an IED (improvised explosive device) in Iraq. One would not have blamed the grieving father if he had retreated into solitude, but instead, at the age of 60, he volunteered his services as a battlefield surgeon.

Another story was about a major in the army who, after retirement, chose to teach disadvantaged youth in an inner-city high school. Here, he inspired a young man to join the military, even if the student’s father was a gang leader who had spent much of the youth’s childhood years in prison. With the major’s support, the young man was able to get into West Point, and the footage showed him surprising his mother in the restaurant where she worked, clad in his smart uniform.

Of course, given the United States’ role as a peacekeeper around the world, there is need to constantly stoke the fires of patriotism among Americans and keep up morale among the young men and women staking their lives in conflicts taking place thousands of kilometers from home. And this Veterans Day was one such occasion to milk as much goodwill for the military as possible.

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STILL, experiencing the media hype around this occasion, I couldn’t help recalling another American soldier, a Marine, who has once more polarized public opinion in the Philippines.

He is of course Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, the accused in the killing of Jennifer Laude, a transgender individual, in Olongapo City.

Unlike in the case of Cpl. Daniel Smith, the accused in the Subic rape case of 2005, who inspired not just a hail of loud and angry voices against him and his eventual release but also a fans club of adoring women, Pemberton has remained a mysterious, elusive figure.

Maybe this is because he has not made any public appearance, unless one counts the brief glimpse of him as he made his way from a helicopter to his present detention site, a retrofitted container van at the Jusmag compound.

But like in the case of Smith, that being readied against Pemberton has been turned into a proxy war over the Visiting Forces Agreement. And this time around, the protests and noise being raised against American forces using the Philippines as an R&R site have been enough to spook US military authorities who are apparently giving our country a wide berth.

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THROUGHOUT the media coverage of Veterans Day, especially the adulation heaped on the vets, there was no mention at all of servicemen implicated in crimes abroad.

But I’m sure Americans are aware that their soldiers are not universally beloved or admired wherever they are sent. As I write this, news shows are leading with footage of three American sailors leaving their ship in Istanbul and being beset by a crowd of rowdy protesters, some of whom even attempted to cover a sailor’s head with a plastic bag.

Commentators reacted to the sight with shock and indignation, as if the very thought of angry locals venting their ire on American sailors was inconceivable. But as with the case against Pemberton, it must be pointed out that an international presence also means drawing flak, and the behavior of some servicemen (and women) can’t help their image any.

An American Vietnam vet couldn’t help noting the difference between the public reception of present-day vets and the one he and his cohorts received in the heated days of anti-Vietnam protests. Indeed, the “Universal Soldier” has not always been universally loved, even by his own people. Just some thoughts on Veterans Day.