Pay tribute to our veterans

"The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month." The words seem quaint today, as quaint as those that formerly were associated with them: "The Great War," "The War to End all Wars."

For many years Armistice Day was celebrated, solemnly, in America to honor the young men and women sent to France who sacrificed their lives in what historians now judge to be one of the most senseless in the long annals of human folly.

Webster defines armistice as "the temporary stopping of warfare by mutual agreement, as a truce preliminary to the signing of a peace treaty."

The operative word here is "temporary," for in truth the Treaty of Versailles that followed the Armistice of 1918 did no such thing as end the war to end all wars. It only created and cemented in place conditions that inexorably led to the outbreak, a scant generation later, of an even greater and far more bloody war.

Armistice Day, as originally conceived, is virtually forgotten now. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation changing the name of the holiday to "Veterans Day," a day to honor all those who served their country in uniform in time of war. World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the current War on Terror (or whatever Washington now chooses to call it) provide stark corroboration of Plato's famous dictum "Only the dead have seen the last of war."

All wars, large or small, require great sacrifice from those sent to fight them. What distinguishes the wars now being fought by America in Iraq (a rear guard action) and in Afghanistan (a war difficult to characterize) is the very narrow base from which Washington expects sacrifice.

The numerical strength of our armed forces is small in relation to the missions our political leadership has assigned. Many of the young men and women sent to fight on the other side of the world are now on their fourth, fifth or sixth combat tour. This is unconscionable.

The concept of shared sacrifice that earned us victory in World War II, in half the time we have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is not much in evidence today. And that sacrifice isn't limited to foreign lands, as demonstrated by last week's tragedy at Fort Hood.

Very few of those who serve in Congress or the White House have served in the armed forces. Very few of their sons and daughters wear the uniform.

On this Veterans Day 2009, it is right and proper that we honor those who do.

It is equally right and proper that we the people demand of those we send to Washington greater responsibility, accountability and support for those they send to war.