海角大神

Despite the end of the Iraq war and the scheduled drawdown in Afghanistan, this Memorial Day arrives against a backdrop of deepening 鈥� and some say more troublesome 鈥� antiwar sentiment among military veterans.

One of the most vivid and replayed images of protesters at the NATO summit last weekend in Chicago was a聽group of some 40聽vets lined up to toss their war medals over the chain-link fence to protest what former聽naval officer Leah Bolger calls 鈥渢he illegal wars聽of both NATO and America.鈥�

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 33 percent of post-9/11 veterans say that neither the war in Iraq nor the war in Afghanistan was "worth the cost,鈥� and this among a highly motivated cohort who chose to serve.

What this means, says retired US Army Col. Ann Wright, who聽resigned from a State Department post in 2006 over US policies in Iraq,聽is that聽there is a聽widening gap between the government, military policies, and the soldiers that carry them out.

鈥淢ilitary personnel know America will always have a military, but there is聽growing concern聽over the way it is being used,鈥� says the 29-year veteran, adding that an increasing list of concerns include 鈥渢he use of聽torture, illegal detentions, and both soldiers and the public being lied to about the actual reasons for going into combat.鈥�

But in contrast to the extremely vocal and visible antiwar movements of the Vietnam聽War era, many veterans in the all-volunteer military have found it harder to聽mobilize effective actions, says Cameron聽White, a former marine who served two tours in Iraq before joining 鈥�Iraq Veterans Against the War.鈥�

The 32-year-old Pasadena聽City college student, who enlisted in 2000, says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 harder to speak to fellow soldiers about their decision to join, as the onus is on us because we chose this.鈥�

Many of the post-9/11 veterans who have served in what is now America鈥檚 longest-running military action, find that pressures that can fuel antiwar sentiment have ratcheted up with the all-volunteer Army.

According to the Pew study, only some one-half of 1 percent of Americans have served in the military in the past decade, the lowest rate in history. Even as an聽unprecedented number of Americans 鈥� some 80聽percent 鈥� are therefore sheltered from the war鈥檚 hardships because none of their relatives聽are serving,聽the pressures of military service聽have increased.

In order to meet troop-level requirements, many soldiers have been deployed as聽many as six times 鈥� a level unheard-of prior to the all-volunteer military, points out Mike Hanie, an Air Force veteran and founder and executive director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University聽in Syracuse, N.Y.

This growing antiwar sentiment within the veteran community, he says,聽is聽easily traced back to the fact that 鈥渢he men and women who have served are returning home to communities where they feel that their service doesn鈥檛 matter.鈥�

The veterans鈥� 鈥渇amilies, friends, neighbors, and colleagues do not understand, or seem to care about our all-volunteer military and the sacrifices they have made defending our freedom,鈥� he adds.

Veterans returning聽to normal life are facing struggles that include uncertainty about possible redeployments, cutbacks in benefits, and an economy in recession. This has led to many troublesome results, including a suicide rate among post 9/11 veterans of some 18 veterans per day, says Dr. Harry Croft, a former Army doctor and a psychiatrist who has evaluated more than 7,000 veterans for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and is author of the book 鈥淚 Always Sit With My Back to The Wall.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not clear anymore what the end result is of these wars,鈥� he says, adding聽that in Iraq, for example, US troops are gone, but many vets wonder what happens now.

鈥淲e got rid of Saddam Hussein and put a democratic government in place, but the enemy still hasn鈥檛 gone away,鈥� he notes. In addition, he says, many vets feel聽that we were told before the war in Iraq that oil money was going to pay for the war, 鈥渨hich of course didn鈥檛 happen.鈥�

Afghanistan is even murkier, says Dr. Croft. 鈥淥ur troops are over there risking their lives, and the Afghan people and government don鈥檛 even like us,鈥� he says, adding, 鈥渙ur troops are facing suicide bombers and IEDs knowing that today might be their last day, but for what?鈥�