Just when I thought I had the day together.

Yes, it's Easter, but as an atheist, it's my right to ignore it. I declined to have dinner at my sister's today and I've been doing writing instead. 

Just when I thought I had the day together, I remembered that I should start critiquing a friend's novel for the writers' group. I usually don't fret about age, but I'm a little indulgent about it when I forget about something that important for so long.

It's also embarrassing I didn't remember to even print it up until this afternoon. I told myself to do it last night and it totally slipped my mind until today.

I read this morning that Post Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan has been taking heat from Conservatives over suggestions he gave about Veterans Funerals, and mostly because he pointed out the obvious, no-brainer, truth that no sane person could argue against, not all veterans are heroes.

It apparently isn't fashionable to mention that anymore, especially among Conservatives, who-- it must be admitted-- need whatever rallying point they can get now. Never mind that McClellan said this exact same thing a previous column two years ago and it got no response. Probably because Conservatives hadn't yet discovered how poor their political futures had become.

Now Conservatives have taken a sledgehammer to their brains so they could make the argument that "All veterans are heroes, and how dare you impugn their service to our country."

I believe the standard we usually apply to heroes is if they go "Above and beyond the call of duty." If every veteran had that, the military would give them all 4.0 evaluations upon discharge, along with an award of a Congressional Medal of Honor, because if every veteran's a hero, that means every veteran is an elite hero.

There are professionals who do exactly what they are trained to do. If a veteran has fought under fire, he does what he has been trained to do. Yes, it's dangerous. So are a lot of fields. So are a lot of fields that are a service to many people.

Then there are the exceptional, ones who do something in battle you can't train anybody to do, who do things that are foolhardy, or that even seem superhuman. Like single-handedly killing 705 of the enemy, with a rifle and an SMG in 40 degree below weather, with only basic military training. (No, that isn't an American. I'm just giving the most convenient example because I'm lazy and out of time.)

Distinguishing heroes from everyone else doesn't insult other veterans. Hell, we have civilian heroes, who reach the status without any war at all a bystander who run in and rescue a family from a fire. No way are other civilians insulted when a hero cited.

During Vietnam when we had the draft, we had many more troops in a war zone. We didn't end up with millions of heroes, nor did our country treat them like that.

We don't need to make just volunteering for the military and following orders to fight a ticket to heroism. Most people volunteer for the military to get out of poverty or get job-related training. That's what I saw when I was in our voluntary military. That's not bad, but it's also not heroic? Morale and the fighting spirit were instilled in us after we volunteered. Most of us didn't feel that way before.
 
It has been pointed out before-- because it's obvious-- but our country is far too militaristic. The promotion of all veterans to heroes is a way of giving more status to military people and more prestige to a military that's out of control.

Therefore, I treat this lowering of the standard with suspicion. Our last two wars have not been "heroic" in the least. The 10th anniversary of the Iraqi War wasn't celebrated, and-- in a heated discussion-- I told Conservatives back in 2005 that it wouldn't be. The military has heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan, but heroes in immoral ventures that are against national interests, and were brought upon us fraudulently. Our enlisted personnel, veterans and real heroes are being used and had, and they come home to benefits that suck and will only get worse as budgets get cut. They come home sometimes as damaged goods, while frequently, the skills they learned get them nowhere in this economy the wars they fought in have helped wreck. Unless they go to work for a private security agency, an intelligence firm or agency, or the Pentagon, they'll probably find that few promises made to them have been kept.

If they work for a private security agency, an intelligence entity, or the Pentagon, they get paid to further our government's business and foreign ventures.

It's no wonder Conservative propagandists and their volunteer parrots are almost hysterical to flatter veterans now.