The privilege of honoring local veterans

It’s not an entity that should ever divide us. That’s a still-painful lesson the Vietnam War should have taught us.

It’s not a religious denomination, a large university’s alumni association or a political party. In fact, it’s not a party at all. 

The U.S. military, past and active members, is a collection of Americans from all walks of life. It’s men and women of every religion, every race, every income and education level, every kind of small town and big city. 

At all levels, the military is finding challenges in recruiting. According to Military.com, male enlistments in the U.S. Army have fallen 35% in the last decade, from 58,000 in 2013 to 37,700 in 2023. Female enlistments have remained steady at about 10,000 annually.

The article (tinyurl.com/2s48tbtk) dives into possible reasons for the increasing recruitment challenges, political and cultural theories among them, with military leadership also being scrutinized.

A Pew Research study earlier this year shows a significant divide over perceptions of the military based on age.

According to the study, most Americans — 60% — have positive views of the military. The only age group that believes the military’s impact is negative is the 18-29 group. Only 43% of that demographic perceives the military’s impact as positive, which illustrates how recruiting is trying to sprint on loose sand.

Perhaps not surprisingly, older Americans tend to view the military’s impact more positively, according to Pew’s study. Seven of 10 people over the age of 49 have a favorable view of the military. Support includes strong majorities of Republicans (64%) and Democrats (60%), so this isn’t a perception based on political partisanship.

We share this information for several timely reasons, not the least that tomorrow is Veterans Day. We believe firmly that respect and appreciation for our country’s defenders is both a requirement of good citizenship and an opportunity for unity in a deeply divided nation.

Toward those ends, The Daily Bee produced a special Veterans Day section to honor local military members and their families. This keepsake edition, which was featured in Thursday's Daily Bees, includes information on dozens of your friends and neighbors who have defended your freedom and your values. Copies of the special edition can also be found at the Daily Bee office.

Please join us in thanking them for their service, and next year, encourage others to share their stories as well.