11 November 2012 The guns fell silent

Cassi Creek:

          Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Veterans Day; call it what you prefer, was intended to commemorate the lives of the millions of men and women who died in WWI.  It was hoped that we would come to view such wars as too costly in lives and the tools of war to allow any further conflicts. 

          We’ve been calling for an end to war ever since.  We’ve not been successful in our efforts to eliminate war.  The costs of war have grown immensely, single warheads costing as much as the delivery platforms from earlier wars.  There is always the underlying threat that some rogue nation or terrorist group will find a way to obtain a nuclear warhead to detonate. 

          There are no WWI veterans alive now.  WWI veterans are dying rapidly.  Korea and VietNam veterans are now in the senior position on the queue for services.  The Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are now the trailing end of the beast we all rode into battle. 

          The United States and its allies are engaged in a long and difficult war against religious extremists.  There is little likelihood that our troops will all be home and standing down when Veterans Day 2013 rolls over us.  But we can hope.  

          Since DNA identification became the standard of practice the U.S... Military produces no more unknown soldiers.