At The Criterion, we believe it’s important to remember that 9/11 is not a thing of the past. The events of Sept. 11, 2001 continue to resonate to this day through both conflict and the imprint left upon the hearts of many citizens, first responders and veterans.
That tragic day will always leave a scar in our nation’s history, but without the service of our emergency responders and veterans, it could have been much, much worse. We thank those who gave their lives on that day, those who tracked through the debris to save others and those who later put their lives on the line to capture the perpetrators responsible for the attacks.
But we also want to recognize the greatness and importance of veterans and emergency responders today. Colorado Mesa University students, professors and alumni give service in many ways. Whether its multiple tours in the military, training to become a firefighter or EMT, or working on becoming a police officer, this community carries on the integrity and heart that those service men and women had on 9/11.
We thank them for their dedication to their community and their country, and for bringing that greatness to the CMU campus. Our hope with this edition was to feature and highlight some of the many people in the CMU community, to honor and pay respect to the service they do. We hope others will take the time to read this edition, to appreciate these individuals and to remember the ways these people make our lives better.
Dear Editor,
I am going to risk being unpopular. I am going to say that I wish we had a lot fewer military veterans. Especially veterans who have seen service in war.
The last war that was arguably legit was in Korea. I can think of no military adventure of significant scale since then that has been in the general interest of the United States. Yea, those high paid Generals and CEO’s in the Military Industrial Complex make out like bandits, the obscene profitability of oil companies are assured, and many thousands of people find employment in that perfect example of private/public partnerships. But by and large these adventures are mainly taking place in oil-rich regions (wonder why.) The cost is borne by the people we kill and maim (intentionally or not), the broken souls, families and bodies of many of our vets and government revenue going down the drain of military adventure.
I have known many veterans of battles overseas. My father was mechanic’s mate on an LST that was torpedoed north of Australia. My first real job was on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad working with veterans of the Second World War.. Railroaders were a rather idiosyncratic lot. Those I worked with were intensely patriotic, Democrat voting union men. Racial and Gender equality was a recent discovery and was just catching on with the working class. There were no forbidden words. Flag waving military veteran worshiping may have popped up here and there, but not like that attached to the disastrous military response to the organized crime of September 11, 2001. An attack on us by members of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose interests many of our brave people are now dying to protect.
Veterans I knew from the “greatest generation” suffered deep emotional scars from combat. Often those scars from that trauma were in the form of alcohol and verbal abuse. Because so many of my WWII vet coworkers had similar experiences there seemed to be a ready made support group for those men. And they never talked to each other about “The War.” I miss them. Gone now, almost all.
That ready made support group does not exist for our veterans now. Should we do more to help these people even though they should not have been sent to war in the first place? Absolutely. Should we worship them and celebrate their sacrifice? Only by crying our eyes out over it and raising our voices in protest against those who create and profit from the evil of war.
I cry if I think to much on the effects of war on people. I long for the day when a small cohort of veterans can say with pride “We are the last veterans of a war.”
And I know damn well that I will not be around if that happens.
Andy Womack
Golden Scholar