Tomorrow is Veterans Day.   Although it is being “observed” today so it can be a federal holiday, with all the various ramifications of that classification, we must remember what the day really represents.  Originally, it was called “Armistice Day”, commemorating the event which occurred on November 11, 1918.   On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the armistice which ended the bloodbath of World War One went into effect.  Later, it was referred to as “Remembrance Day”, and in 1954 it was re-named “Veteran’s Day”, to honor all the sacrifices made by American service men and women in all the years this country has existed.

Also this week, admitted Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl was given what amounted to a slap on the wrist by the judge who presided over his court marshal.  In what can only be regarded as a politically motivated action, Army Colonel Jeffry Nance refused to sentence Bergdahl to a single day in prison for his admitted desertion, an action which caused the death and maiming of fellow servicemen.  Now, unbelievably, the Army is considering paying Bergdahl over three hundred thousand dollars in compensation for the time he was held captive by the Taliban.  That this would even be considered is a indication of how far off the well beaten track of American common sense, decency and justice this country has strayed in the last fifty years or so.  From the time of the Vietnam war, when young men fled to Canada and elsewhere to avoid military service, and then were later pardoned for their illegal acts by President Jimmy Carter, we have slid down a slippery slope of allowing people to avoid responsibility for their actions.  An all too brief period of patriotism and common sense during the Reagan administration was followed by twelve years in which the promise of economic sanity and military strength was squandered by the two following administrations.  Failing to confront the threats posed by radical Islam, including Iran, caused the tragedy of 9/11 and sixteen constant years of war in the Middle East and Afghanistan.  Also, failing to confront the nuclear demands of the North Koreans has brought us to the brink of a nuclear confrontation with that rogue nation.  The eight years of the Obama administration placed a coat of very distasteful icing on a cake of political excrement, by tarnishing our national prestige world wide, weakening our military, doubling our national debt and causing an up-swelling of racial division and discord which hasn’t existed in this country since the mid 1960s.

So, as we celebrate the sacrifices made by our military personnel over the years, I hope the leadership of that military will make a strong statement to all would be deserters that you will be punished for your actions, not rewarded. Deny Bergdahl the deferred compensation and instead divide it equally among the families of those so adversely affected by his cowardly actions.  Not to do so makes a mockery of the concept of Veteran’s Day.