Duty, Honor and Country?

John Haglelgam

At the end of the ceremony, the soldiers removed the United States flag from the top of the coffin, folded it nicely, and handed it to an old lady. The old lady accepted the flag. One of the soldiers, perhaps the highest ranking among them, snapped a military salute and said out loud: Duty, Honor and Country.

I stared at the T.V. screen thinking to myself that there is something terribly odd about this funeral. Then it dawns on me that the presence of the United States military, the salute with the ringing words: Duty, Honor and Country, and prominent display of the United States flag all made the funeral looked surreal. It was a U.S. military funeral in a foreign country; and it was completely out of place in the serene and peaceful surrounding.

I wonder whether the lady who received the American flag understands the meaning of the honor guard and the salute for her deceased son. Perhaps the whole ceremony was incomprehensible to her. Maybe her mind was preoccupied with the images of her son; and she could not care less about the military salute and honor guard that accompanied the funeral. Perhaps she was thinking like my mother who refused to take the war claim check for her oldest son who was killed in World War II because, as she put it: "Nothing, not even one million dollars, would compensate me for the loss of my son."

The salute and the statement of duty, honor, and country made sense in the United States for American families who take pride in their sons and daughters doing their duty to their country by serving in the armed forces. For Americans, their sons and daughters bring honor to their families when they serve in the military.

This cannot be true for the Micronesians who volunteered to serve in the armed forces of the United States of America. For them, they enlist for the chance to see the world and for the financial benefit the U.S. military offers. Duty, honor, and country have a ring of irrelevancy as far as citizens of the FSM are concerned.

Many of FSM's young men and women have volunteered and served honorably in all branches of the United States military. But we should not encourage them to enlist. Before enlisting, the Micronesian young men and women must talk with their parents, family members, relatives, and friends to make sure that every one appreciates the danger involved in volunteering for the U.S. armed forces during this dangerous time of continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The financial benefits are there, but the danger of getting killed in combat is very real. And when the latter happens, the mental anguish and the psychological scar on parents, family members, relatives, and friends is incalculable and lasts a lifetime. And the United States is not providing any counseling for the family members of the FSM citizen killed in combat. They are left alone to deal with their own mental anguish and the psychological impact of the loss of their loved one.

The fate of our young men and women must not be decided by military recruiters who, by the nature of their work, must paint a rosy picture of military life in the U.S. armed forces and emphasize only the benefits offered. At a minimum, the national government should inform the young men and women in the FSM that when they enlist in the U.S. armed forces, they are not serving their country. The government must also inform them of the benefits and the danger in enlisting in the U.S. armed forces, especially during this dangerous time.

The writer, a former President of the Federated States of Micronesia, is a professor at the College of Micronesia in Palikir, Pohnpei.