2024-04-28 22:04:58
That’s probably the least
We had made ourselves comfortable under the protective umbrella of others. With the certainty that NATO and the Americans would knock us out if necessary, it was easy to demonstrate against our own soldiers, humming Reinhard Mey songs, wrapped in a parka with the “Make peace without weapons” buttons attached goods and “Abolish the Bundeswehr” patches. While we comfortably turned our backs on them, 3,300 soldiers have died in the line of duty since the Bundeswehr was founded – 116 on missions abroad for our country.
The times of such disregard for our fellow citizens in uniform must finally be over. NATO stands on many fronts, and we cannot rely on the Americans and their possible next president. We have to protect ourselves. In Lithuania against the war criminal Putin. In Iraq, Mali, Lebanon, the Red Sea and earlier in Afghanistan against bloodthirsty terrorists. But what does “we” mean here? Not “we”! Bundeswehr soldiers are doing this for us, now, at this very second. Their job is consuming, even on the home front, and often dangerous abroad. In many locations they are threatened with suffering and death.
But instead of being grateful and honoring the veterans of such missions at least one day a year, we have clumsily scrawled the Tucholsky quote “Soldiers are murderers” on posters for decades. As a society, we have slighted those who make and have made sacrifices for all of us.
Honoring the dead and the survivors alike with a day of our own is the least we can do. Just like most other nations do. Of course, our military history is different than that of any other nation. That’s why we still struggle with this recognition today. But that is not the fault of those who serve in the Bundeswehr today. They see Veterans Day as a promise. For the fact that we as a society take care of them. Equip them as best as possible, value them politically, support them diplomatically and care for those who return from missions physically wounded or mentally injured. Every day.