On this Veterans Day, it’s appropriate to discuss how Americans feel about our men and women who wear or have worn the uniform of the United States.  Following 9/11, Bush’s immediate invasion of Afghanistan, which has now dragged on to be the longest war in our history, his unjustifiable invasion of Iraq which cost us too many American lives and enormous amounts of borrowed money, our military has been elevated to some kind of Godlike status.  We gush all over our men and women in uniform who have all become automatic “heroes” and we all feel smug and full of ourselves because we are “honoring” them.  Let’s rewind back to Vietnam.  I have a dear friend who fought in that war earning several medals including two purple hearts.   He tells of returning to the U.S. where his fellow Americans spat on him and called him obscene names as he walked through the airport.   Americans have short memory spans so now returning soldiers are thanked when they walk through airports and I’m sure a lot of those who hated our soldiers then are waving flags at Veterans Day parades now.   Of course we had the draft in the Vietnam era so a lot more Americans had some stake in the war because a loved one or friend fought or died there.  Now Americans are like a lot of beer-bloated, face-painted football fans cheering on their military team but God forbid one of their kids should be down on the mud-soaked field.   It eases our collective conscious to say how much we love our military.  But let’s remember ALL of them on this Veterans Day not only World War 2 veterans who  clearly fought to preserve our liberty, but also all our fine young people have been used to do our politicians’ dirty work ever since.  They have done so with honor and commitment and deserve all the praise they get.  And for the record, I am a veteran and very proud of it.