Armed Forces Day, May 21 [Archive]

Screwbolts

05-21-2016, 01:20 PM

Expand public understanding of … the role of the military in civilian life’

http://personalliberty.com/expand-public-understanding-of-the-role-of-the-military-in-civilian-life/

Posted on May 20, 2016 (http://personalliberty.com/expand-public-understanding-of-the-role-of-the-military-in-civilian-life/) by Becky Akers (http://personalliberty.com/author/beckyakerspl/) Views: 1,397
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https://plnami.blob.core.windows.net/media/2016/05/ThinkstockPhotos-536852541.jpgTomorrow is Armed Forces Day.
Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but I hadn’t heard of this “holiday” until now. Who would guess that taxpayers must annually “honor all branches of the armed forces (http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/us/armed-forces-day-fast-facts/)” on the third Saturday in May when we memorialize the casualties just a week later on Memorial Day?
It seems that this gratuitous boot licking dates back to 1950. On February 27 of that year, President Harry Truman designated “‘Armed Forces Day (http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/us/armed-forces-day-fast-facts/)” as Saturday, May 20, to “[mark] the first combined demonstration (http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/us/armed-forces-day-fast-facts/) by America’s defense team of its progress, under the National Security Act, towards the goal of readiness for any eventuality. It is the first parade of preparedness by the unified forces of our land, sea, and air defense.”
Truman was referring to the bureaucratic reshuffling of three years earlier in which the government consolidated its various branches of martial might into one Department of Defense (which nicely illustrates Leviathan’s masterful irony: Not a single American war, “action” or “regime change” since the DoD’s founding has been anything but outrageously offensive). Tragically, misnomers and amalgamation weren’t the only evils of the “National Security Act of 1947 (https://research.archives.gov/id/299856)”; it also established the CIA and the National Security Council, codifying the “intelligence community” that has decimated our freedom.
Prior to this horrific legislation, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard each commemorated its “day” separately. For example, “Army Day” was first celebrated on May 1, 1928. (http://afd.defense.gov/History/ArmyDay.aspx) That date was chosen in hopes of dampening Communists’ celebration of Workers’ Day, which also occurs on May 1. Right… And glorifying soldiers differentiated Free America, whose government urged its citizens to venerate war and combat, from Communist Russia, whose government also urged its citizens to venerate war and combat, how precisely?
Indeed, “Army Day was established as a nationwide observance (http://afd.defense.gov/History/ArmyDay.aspx) to draw public attention to national defense and to acquaint the public with Army activities.” I wonder what the Founding Fathers would think of that. Many of them were notoriously pacific; despite — or perhaps because of — his eight years’ commanding the Continental Army, George Washington warned (http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/democrac/49.htm), “…[O]ver grown military establishments …under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and … are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.” Therefore, he urged (http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/democrac/49.htm), “Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”
Instead, Americans cultivate war and dissension with all, whether they invade Iraq because it wishes to defend itself with “weapons of mass destruction (http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/10/16/new-york-times-reports-wmd-found-in-iraq)” (such as the bombs American forces dropped on it (http://www.veteransforpeace.org/our-work/position-statements/veterans-oppose-us-bombing-iraq-and-syria/)?), or spy on Germany, an “ally,” which American spooks nonetheless minutely monitor (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/08/nsa-tapped-german-chancellery-decades-wikileaks-claims-merkel).
The hypocrisy and contempt for liberty only increase on “Coast Guard Day.” Marring August 4, it “honor[s] the establishment on that day in 1790 (http://afd.defense.gov/History/CoastGuardDay.aspx) of the Revenue Cutter Service, forebear of today’s Coast Guard, by the Treasury Department. … the 1790 Tariff Act … authorized the building of a fleet of ten cutters, whose responsibility would be enforcement of the first tariff laws enacted by Congress under the Constitution.”
But tariffs, and the mercantilism they embody, largely inspired the American Revolution. The British government had compelled Americans to buy British products, even when the French or Dutch offered lower prices and higher quality; as the Declaration of Independence put it, the Crown had “[cut] off our Trade with all parts of the world. (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html)” And to ferret out smugglers who couldn’t resist bargains, King George III’s administration resorted to the infamous “Writs of Assistance.” These generalized warrants legalized open-ended searches of homes or shops just to see whether contraband surfaced, without any suspicion whatever that the victim had, indeed, smuggled. (Not much has changed in 250 years: you can watch “Writs of Assistance” in action at any American airport when the TSA gropes passengers and rifles baggage just to see whether contraband surfaces, without any suspicion whatever that the victim is, indeed, a terrorist).
To be fair, with the exception of “Army Day,” the others apparently originated in an effort to boost morale internally, within the ranks. Only those enlisted in the “services” seem to have known or cared that it was “Navy Day (http://afd.defense.gov/History/NavyDay.aspx),” “Marine Corps Day (http://afd.defense.gov/History/MarineCorpsDay.aspx),” etc.
But that changed, explicitly, in 1947. The National Security Act emphasized that Armed Forces Day was “a type of ‘educational program for civilians (http://afd.defense.gov/History.aspx),’ one in which there would be an increased awareness of the Armed Forces. It was designed to expand public understanding of what type of job is performed and the role of the military in civilian life.”
Whoa! A free country has no role for the military in civilian life. Period.
Alas, Americans aren’t alone in their militarism. Many nations host an “Armed Forces Day,” including that bastion of liberty, China: “The People’s Liberation Army was founded on August 1, 1927 (http://www.chineseholidays101.com/army-day/), in Nanchang during a rebellion against nationalist Kuomintang forces. Known simply as the Red Army during the Chinese Civil War, the People’s Liberation Army assumed its role as the armed forces of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.” Most estimates put the number of casualties from these conflicts at around 8 million — 75 percent of which were civilians. Something to cheer, no?
And if the Chinese have reason to party hearty on “Army Day,” Americans have even more cause to carouse on theirs. “Today, the People’s Liberation Army counts more than 2 million personnel (http://www.chineseholidays101.com/army-day/).” Ha! We’ve got those pikers beat: between “Active Frontline Personnel” and “Active Reserve Personnel,” we boast 2.5 million (http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=united-states-of-america). Who says only communists can dominate the world?
Speaking of which, North Korea also and very predictably exalts its army (http://www.howtogotonorthkorea.com/army-day-north-korea-tour-2014/). Call me crazy, but I’d say that with prison camps as barbaric as the Nazis’, (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/18/us-student-north-korea-hard-labor-camp-otto-warmbier) an impoverished populace (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2624164/North-Korea-Starving-people-child-labourers-dilapidated-homes-appear-harrowing-new-images-taken-inside-rogue-state.html)and cult-like worship of the rulers responsible for such atrocities (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/for-north-koreas-kims-its-never-too-soon-to-start-brainwashing/2015/01/15/a23871c6-9a67-11e4-86a3-1b56f64925f6_story.html), North Korea isn’t exactly a model to emulate. Pity the slaves who fete an army empowering the Kim Family to torture, pillage and murder them.
Americans once revered liberty instead of armed forces. And please God, we will again.
— Becky Akers