Swickard: That child born today in twenty years

Commentary by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. - Each of us, all of us, every American is directly and completely beholden to our military. The U.S.A. would cease to exist without our military protecting us from our enemies who are only restrained by the might of our military. Winston Churchill said, “We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.” I had a conversation recently with a parent who objected to military recruiters being in high schools to recruit graduating high school seniors. This person felt that their child should not help protect the country, it should be someone else. What if everyone said that?Military recruiters are often not treated well at high schools. This seems puzzling since our country has had to fight for its freedom many times since it was founded. We fight to keep the freedom won with blood and sacrifice. Around 850,000 American soldiers have lost their life to give life to our country from 1775 to now.I find the effort to steer students away from the military wrong for several reasons. First, a military experience of several years or full career in the military is a real good thing for high school seniors to consider. It takes guts and gumption to stand firm in the face of great adversity. The training to stand firm is training for life.This I know: the people who have stood firm understand, as Lincoln noted, “…we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.” While some young people drift between one self-indulgent moment to another, one group of our citizens is made stronger by their mission. Read more

Swickard: That child born today in twenty years