What would you risk dying for -- and for whom?

[ffr]

What's in it for them? Wounded veterans and Gold Star families answer Trump's question about why troops serve

To borrow Trump's words, what's in it for him?

Members of the military appear to be on this President's mind only when they serve a purpose.

In Trump's case, that's popularity by association.
<snip>

"You can't stand on the graves of better men who fought and died for this country while you rip apart that country with your incompetence...."

Those better men and women are ordinary Americans who did an extraordinary thing: they answered the call. The ones who survive are often fighting for normal lives. They are battling scars seen and unseen simply because, with everything to risk, they are the rare few who said, "send me."

"What would you risk dying for -- and for whom -- is perhaps the most profound question a person can ask themselves," writes war correspondent Sebastian Yunger in "Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging," an exploration of the challenges military personnel face when they return from war.

"The vast majority of people in modern society are able to pass their whole lives without ever having to answer that question, which is both an enormous blessing and a significant loss."

For the commander in chief to never truly seek an answer to that question is a shame. - KIMT 3

This politicization of the military is what incensed Kait Wyatt this week, when she saw a picture of Trump's 2017 cemetery visit that she had not seen before. In it, the President is speaking with Gen. Kelly. Vice President Mike Pence looks on as a cameraman captures the moment amid a throng of onlookers taking photos with their phones.

[crickets]

1. K&R for visibility.

[Backseat Driver]

2. Identified and Homeward bound! Say his name and rest now in peace. Thank you for your service.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-ww2-marine-battle-tarawa-frank-athon-died-coming-home-ohio-20200909-adovumsmnfgapf22uax2ca46hu-story.html

He enlisted at 28, died at 29 and never came home.
But now Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Frank L. Athon Jr. is returning to Cincinnati – nearly 80 years after his death in the Pacific in WWII.

(snip) Back home, his family never forgot. His wife and parents learned of his death just before Christmas in 1943, according to Missing Marines.

In the years following his death, the family would recall their beloved “Bud,” as Athon was nicknamed. They periodically posted remembrances in the Cincinnati Enquirer – especially on his birthday and on the anniversary of his death – in the form of poems, like this one from his mother three years after she received the terrible news.

"Killed in action came the message
That came crashing into my life–
Meaning you had met the challenge,
Had made the supreme sacrifice.
You were one of the heroes as brave and true,
Who gave up your life for the red, white and blue."

Athon will be buried in Philadelphia on Nov. 21, according to the DPAA.