A MILITARY BAND

 CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

“THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR WAR IS A MILITARY BAND”           [11-11-20]

Occasionally I regret not being a military veteran, especially at those concerts where they play the songs for each branch of the military, and the vets of those branches stand during their song. I think that would be neat. Once in a while I get to stand during the song for my branch of service, “Are Ye Able,” but everyone else is standing, too, because the preacher has told us to, so it’s not quite the same.

I grew up in a time of Selective Service, “the draft.”  All males registered and were expected to serve two years of military service, either as a volunteer or a draftee. As far as “active” service was concerned, I was too young for Korea and too old for Viet Nam, but I expected to be in some branch of the military for a couple of years, probably the army, since I was assigned to army ROTC in college.

I actually considered seriously a career in the military when I was a freshman at IU. I liked ROTC, so much that I was IU’s Distinguished Freshman Military Student that year. That meant that I accumulated more points, via tests and extras, such as being part of The Pershing Rifles drill team, than any of the other thousand freshman army ROTC students. I was rather impressed with myself. I didn’t realize at the time how little competition there was. I was the only cadet who actually studied for the tests. Everybody else was just enduring ROTC because it was required for the first two years.

Then, in the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, I finally agreed with God that I would be a minister, the way I had promised when I was fourteen. That took not only a military career out of the picture, but military service as well, since I was then 4D--too religious to be trusted to kill. It was hard on the cadre, the ROTC faculty. I was their star student. They were grooming me for advanced ROTC and a military career. They couldn’t understand what had happened. They kept giving me extra jobs to do, trying to rekindle my interest, but I was already preaching at three churches. Extra work was the last thing I needed. 

All of America’s wars through Viet Nam were fought by citizen soldiers, mostly those who were drafted, or who volunteered so they could choose their service branch before they were drafted. Every family in the nation was affected. Everybody had friends who were in military service. Since the draft ended, it’s been easy to avoid the concerns of veterans, because such a small % of the population is now part of the military/veteran group. Today less than ½ of one percent of the population serves in the military.

Ten years or so ago I became aware that so many of our veterans do not get the support they need. I was appalled at the levels of suicide and homelessness and mental illness among veterans. That’s why I wrote my novel, VETS. I wanted to do something for veterans, which meant writing, since that is my only skill. I knew I did not have the necessary experience to write non-fiction about the concerns of veterans, so I did it in novel form. The proceeds from that book are donated to helping homeless and handicapped military veterans.

I am basically a pacifist. War is stupid. We should not glorify war. But I am also a realist, in the mode of Reinhold Niebuhr. You cannot leave unchecked the most ruthless and heartless people, those who are willing to use violence to force their will upon others. Which means that soldiers are necessary, and they should be cared for and honored for their service when they are veterans. Honoring veterans doesn’t mean just humming along when their song is played by a military band.

John Robert McFarland