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thedrifter
06-10-05, 07:03 AM
Treat the Troops

By Ed Offley

When it comes to expressing support for our troops serving in harm's way, sometimes the simplest idea is the best. Let me explain:

I was out early this morning pumping gas for the car, when I noticed the magnetic sticker on the minivan at the next pump over. The out-of-state tags on the vehicle and its rear cargo area crammed with luggage suggested a family on an early summer holiday to the Florida Panhandle beaches.

The yellow-ribbon-shaped sticker read, "We support the troops."

Rather than uplift my mood, the bumper sticker made me stop and think: Is that all we're doing? Is this commonplace gesture a 2005 version of the picket sign I saw back in the early 1970s – "Honk your horn for peace" – that conjures up a warm and fuzzy feeling inside while accomplishing, in actual terms, nothing at all?

Back at the office, I scanned the news. In Iraq, our troops and their Iraqi counterparts continue to launch massive sweep operations from Baghdad to the northern provinces, rounding up suspected terrorists and their supporters. Throughout Iraq, IEDs and car bombs continue to go off, and the steady trickle of soldiers killed in action also continues.

An even smaller headline from Afghanistan revealed that two more American grunts recently perished in the drive-by conflict that still simmers there with enough intensity to put flag-draped coffins on the cargo plane for Dover. One recent report in The New York Times caught my eye. It spelled out an uptick in violence by remnants of the Taliban movement that our forces displaced from power nearly four years ago, noting:

"But the intensity of the fighting here in Zabul Province, and in parts of adjoining Kandahar and Uruzgan Provinces - roughly 100 square miles of mountain valleys in all - reveals the Taliban to be still a vibrant fighting force supplied with money, men and weapons."

It occurred to me that neither I, nor probably the out-of-state family whose car I had seen at the filling station, could point out Zabul, Kandahar or Uruzgan on a map of Afghanistan if we had to – or locate the towns of Bayju or Ubaydi in Iraq, for that matter. And in a balmy summer morning, with the salt breezes wafting in from the Gulf of Mexico, the last thing most people would likely want to do is spend time poring over a map of the Hindu Kush or the Euphrates River Valley looking for locations they never heard of.

Except that our young men and women are serving, fighting and dying on our behalf in those far-off places.

There is nothing unusual in this. When the U.S. military launched its initial raids into Afghanistan in late 2001, most people were riveted to the TV screen for the first few days. I clearly recall the video images of the Rangers' mass parachute assault on Tarnak Farm. Less than two years later, the nation also sat transfixed as live TV shots via videophone and satellite uplinks tracked the march of the 3rd Infantry Division and II MEF toward Baghdad.

But as the days, weeks and months go by, we become inured to the repetitive news. Afghanistan devolves from a hybrid SOF-air power success to a low-level occupation. Iraq transforms from a textbook AirLand- Battle-"Shock-and-Awe" assault to a bloody occupation and insurgency. The words and images begin to blur in their sameness. Each day's news seems but a replay of the last. Our attention wanders.

"Support the troops," the sticker reads. But how?

Of course, there are numerous volunteer and nonprofit organizations that have sprung up over the years to provide the means by which ordinary Americans can express their support for the troops – ranging from monetary contributions that go to purchase gift boxes, to "adopt a unit" websites that allow individuals to get in contact with groups of soldiers to exchange letters, cards and gifts. All of these are good vehicles to channel our feelings of support into concrete actions.

But thanks to a Louisiana communications professor, I propose a more direct, tangible way of supporting the troops for folks who desire to do so.

Writing in The Christian Science Monitor several weeks ago, David D. Perlmutter offered this simple way in which individual Americans can get in on the act:

"Politicians, generals, and bureaucrats debate over compensation packages and death benefits for servicemen and women, and we should encourage our leaders to be as generous as possible. But something more is needed: personal gratitude expressed in small, everyday acts of support."

Perlmutter calls the concept, "Treat the Troops." He described it like this:

"I started my campaign two months ago when I was in a local toy store. A young man in an Army uniform was shopping for some toy cars, presumably for his kids. As he stepped up to the counter, I tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'Let me take care of that.' He blinked. I asked the clerk to put his purchases on my bill. I shook the young man's hand and told him, 'Thanks for serving your country.' ... That was it. No big deal - or big cost. Just a token of thanks."

The Bush administration and Congress overall have taken steps to provide the troops with pay, benefits and other things that demonstrate the value of their service (although far more needs to be done, from covering VA benefits to providing adequate body armor). So too, numerous state legislatures have in recent years passed special bills that provide for financial protection and direct support for military personnel and their families. And the organized support-the-troops organizations continue to proliferate and merit our strongest backing.

But Perlmutter's one-man campaign struck me as equally important. As he wrote in the Monitor, "In a democracy ... the morale of men and women in uniform is the people's responsibility, too - whatever one's feelings about this particular war. ... Imagine the effect if millions of Americans expressed their gratitude with a little cash and kindness. That would show we support the troops better than any yard sign or bumper sticker."

So the next time you're in line at the store, grabbing a meal in a downtown restaurant, or sitting in an airport lounge – and you see someone in uniform – grab the bill for that small item; have the waiter put his or her meal on your account; send over a round on the house.

It's the least we can do for them.

Ellie