Across most of America, regardless of political affiliation, most people say they support our troops. They will generally have kind words for our warfighters. This sentiment can be sincere or condescending, depending on the region’s view of military service. Most areas are at least yellow ribbon patriots. They feel an obligation to say, “Thank you for your service.” However, there is a great chasm between politically correct posturing and really taking care of our troops and their families. We are seeing that clearly with the government shutdown. When our troops are in danger of not getting paid, we are making a statement about our commitment to our service members and civilians who work every day to keep our Country safe.
The government shutdown is yet another example of scorched-earth politics. Both parties are saying they are simply doing what they must do to protect America from the other party. Compromise is right there, but credit for the win is key. After so many rude encounters, the personality of this battle appears myopic. What about all the suffering that governmental dysfunction brings? There is nowhere, in my opinion, where this failure looks more flagrant than with our military.
I live in Lawton, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Fort Sill is the home of the Fires Center of Excellence. It is the home of Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery. It is both a training post and a warfighting post. There are about twenty-five thousand troops and government service employees on Fort Sill. It accounts for a fourth of the population of the city. Lawton Fort Sill is a very patriotic community. Many of the citizens of the city are retired military, and many others served in the military at some point in their lives. The city of Lawton Fort Sill takes great pride in taking care of its Soldiers. When units deploy from the fort, the city covers down on their families in a very real way. The city believes it has a responsibility to protect the families of the deployed Soldiers until they can return home.
This personality makes Lawton Fort Sill a unique environment for the shutdown. In our community, leaders from every walk of life began to plan to support our troops and government service employees well before the shutdown. When the post had its resource fair – assembling all available resources for our soldiers and their families – the Lawton community took part. This week, the city will host its own resource event. This time focused on all the government service employees who have either been laid off or are working without pay. Banks, churches, food banks, and concerned citizens will work together to be creative and protect our war-fighting team.
For sure, the citizenship demonstrated by this community makes me proud to live here. It makes me glad that I chose to retire here after military service and call Lawton Fort Sill my home. But I’m very concerned for those Soldiers and DoD civilians who do not live in a community like ours. How are they going to survive this government shutdown?
I am concerned that in this very dangerous and capricious world, these same Soldiers will be in harm’s way very soon. I wonder how they will feel about deploying and leaving their families when their most recent memory is worrying about whether or not there would be a paycheck or standing in line at the food bank to receive needed rations. Combat units are based upon trust, confidence, and cohesion. Do our Soldiers and their families trust that their government will take care of them? Will our young people continue to volunteer to endure the hardships of military service, facing these political vicissitudes?
When the dust settles on ad hominem politics, I hope that America will demand changes be made to ensure that our servicemembers and DoD civilians will always be paid, even during the darkest hours of political upheaval. We need to make the statement that we will always take care of our warriors and their families. We must acknowledge that they are made vulnerable by deployments and personal risk from the onset. They must know that our Nation and its government will always have their back. We cannot have them going into harm’s way, wondering whether our government will function.
It is easy to say that as Americans, we should respect each other. It is easy to say that we should care about each other and be willing to make reasonable compromises to keep our government open and fulfilling its responsibilities. Let’s begin to make strides in this direction by protecting our troops. Safeguards for our warfighters are essential.
We must keep the faith.
