third time’s the charm?

so yesterday was veteran’s day, as most of you know by the rampant facebook posts thanking those who are serving our country…

…and that ain’t right.

there was also all kinds of news footage of obama laying wreaths and such in arlington national cemetery.

and that ain’t right, either.

a lot of people don’t realize it, but we have not one, not two, but THREE different holidays to honor the military. am i the only one that thinks that’s kinda overkill (pun intended)?

there’s “armed forces day”, which was set forth by truman (as in the former president, not the jim carrey character) to honor those currently serving, and consolidated what had previously been FOUR different days, one for each branch. so that honors the living but still serving.

then there’s “memorial day”, the biggie that was started right after the civil war to honor those who had died in service to their country…and is also the unofficial kickoff to summer time. this one honors the dead soldiers, and is when obama SHOULD have been doing the wreath thing…although i’m sure he did it then as well. at only thirty-nine percent approval right now i’m sure he’ll do as much positive press as he can.

and finally there’s veteran’s day, set up just after world war i (the “great war” that was so great they decided to do it again twenty years later) to honor those who had served, but were still with us. this was best illustrated by the vietnam vet sitting next to me at the bar that got his tab covered by the rest of us.

so now you know – did you realize we had three separate ones?