The changing face of the U.S. Armed Services was highlighted by a guest speaker for Veterans Appreciation Day at Torrey Pines (La Jolla) Rotary Club on Nov. 13 \u2014 with some very enlightening insight into the challenges of today\u2019s U.S. warriors.
\nNavy Rear Adm. (Ret.) Leendert “Len” Hering, Sr. captured the attention of service-club members \u2014 many of them veterans themselves \u2014 as he shared details on little-known facts about the changing demographics of the U.S. military.
\n“We\u2019ve changed the dynamics of where we are as a nation,” said Hering, who noted this is reflected in the changing composition of the nation\u2019s military forces.
\n“Today, there are 21.2 million veterans out of 315 million Americans; 1.6 million are female, 1.8 million are younger than 35,” Hering said.
\n“Less than 6 percent of the population of today\u2019s America has served and, of those, 600 to 1,000 are passing [away] every day.” Hering said those coming from military families have “a propensity to serve, which is significantly higher” than the general population.
\nThe U.S. military is changing in other ways though, too, Hering said.
\n“There are fewer and fewer individuals who can meet the education standards and skills required for the highly technical warfare of today,” he said, adding the average annual income of veterans \u2014 about $36,000 \u2014 is also significantly more than the average annual civilian wage of $26,400.
\nA historian by nature, Hering urged Torrey Pines Rotary\u2019s veterans, and veterans everywhere, to “tell their stories.”
\n“Who\u2019s going to really tell the stories of Iwo Jima, Bataan, the Battle of the Bulge, etc., to the folks who need to hear it \u2014 the 94 percent who have never served?” he asked.
\nWith advances in medical technology, Hering said more combat soldiers who “previously would have been left on the battlefield as casualties,” are surviving to return and rebuild their lives with disabilities.
\n“We have 3.6 million vets \u2014 more than 50 percent \u2014 who have service-connected disabilities,” Hering said. “We have five times more amputees in this conflict [in Afghanistan] than any other conflict we\u2019ve been in. Many more are being brought back into society, and the sad part is many of them are not recovering. Our suicide rate in the service today is at an all-time high. We lost more servicemen to suicide last year than we did in actual combat.”
\nThe roots of Veterans Day on Nov. 11 go back to the armistice signed between the allied nations and Germany in 1918 that ended World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” in the so-called “war to end all wars.”
\nArmistice Day didn\u2019t take on broader implications until former general and then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower in October 1954 proclaimed that Nov. 11 would henceforth become a day “to honor American veterans of all wars.”
\nVeterans suffer higher proportionately than the rest of the population from many difficulties resulting from the transition from military to civilian life.
\n“Vets are three times more likely to be unemployed,” said Hering. “Why? Why do we have more than 900 vets, our brothers in arms, homeless in the streets of San Diego? The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.”
\nHering said Veterans Day is the nation\u2019s most mixed-up national holiday.
\n“Memorial Day and Veterans Day are the most confused holidays in America,” he said. “Most citizens do not truly understand the difference.”
\nHering said veterns, like those in the Torrey Pines Rotary Club, have a role to play in “how America moves forward and shapes what is Veterans Day.”
\nWhat should Veterans Day mean?
\n“It\u2019s a time for the entire country to reflect on and celebrate veterans\u2019 achievements and service,” Hering said, adding it\u2019s an especially poignant time for veterans to reflect on what they\u2019ve achieved through their service because, “If vets don\u2019t do the reflecting \u2014 then the reflection is shallow.”
\nHering said there\u2019s a motto he, as a veteran, prizes: “Life, liberty and the pursuit of all those who threaten it. It\u2019s the home of the free because we are brave.” The son of an American sailor who spent most his adult life in the U.S. Navy, Hering said he has three sons, “an heir and two spares,” whom he hopes will “carry on the charge.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The changing face of the U.S. Armed Services was highlighted by a guest speaker for Veterans Appreciation Day at Torrey Pines (La Jolla) Rotary Club on Nov. 13 \u2014 with some very enlightening insight into the challenges of today\u2019s U.S. warriors. Navy Rear Adm. (Ret.) Leendert “Len” Hering, Sr. captured the attention of service-club members […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":277976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Retired Rear Admiral cites changing trends in today\u2019s warfare; alarming spike in suicides for returning veterans","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}