The U.S. has had an all-volunteer military for over 30 years, and it seems that the overall understanding of our military’s mission has extensively decreased as fewer and fewer Americans have any connection to the military.
Those Americans in their late 70s and their 80s and 90s can well remember their service during World War II. Then there are the Korean and Vietnam vets. But since the war in Vietnam the men and women who have served in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered.
And, as one member of a military family recently said, those families with a military tradition are being asked to carry more and more of the obligation of protecting our country.
I have a very simple proposal to counteract this increasing isolation of military families: Mandatory teaching in U.S. history courses taught in elementary and secondary school about the current U.S. military and its mission.
Young Americans, both male and female, BEFORE they graduate high school should have an appreciation of the branches of the U.S. military and the options that those branches can offer high school graduates.
Even if my proposal were enacted and didn’t increase the volunteers for the military, at the very least there should be an increased appreciation for those Americans who do serve.
Do you agree or disagree with my proposal? Please leave your comments below.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs as a National Internet Business Examiner and at Operation Support Jews in the Military and Fiction Marketing, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life.
Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites that get people to say yes to your brand, book or business. Her newest project is the book/website project In Support of Our Troops.
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