What Is It?? Who Decides??
On this Memorial Day, I remember a conversation I had with General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., at the RED BARN in Seattle. I was shocked when he thanked ME for my service as an officer in the United States Air Force between the years of 1962 and 1982. He autographed my copy of his book with those sentiments.
He explained that he and his contemporaries did all they could to bring about the events of 1948; (Truman's Executive Order to Integrate the Military Services), and, (co-incidentally, the year the USAF was established); but it was the job of those of us who were the firsts in our roles as young black officers, to set the stage for the success of the event.
As a child of World War II, remembering vividly the Black-Outs, I was very aware early of claims of "Our National Interest". I expected that when I became an adult, I would understand fully what the phrase meant and how it was determined. That didn't happen. The understanding that the public had during the Presidencies of FDR and Harry Truman, seemed to dim with the Presidency of Eisenhower and the rise of McCarthyism. A climate of fear set in that only deepened as I got older. I certainly expected to get a clearer view of "National Interest" once I was commissioned into the USAF. NOT!! The country had been so traumatized by Korea, McCarthyism, "Duck and Cover" and "Red Scare" campaigns, that the earlier trust the public had in government disappeared. The assassinations, the Vietnam frenzies, the tragedies of Dick Nixon, and the deep dive into Right Wing Extremism, led by Ronald Reagan, brought us to the sorry mess we're in today. Born half a generation ahead of the Baby Boomer horde, I've had unique positions from which to view these events.
Inside the Air Force, I saw a similar transition. The older officers who served in World War II were distinctly different, and more open-minded, that the younger officers who were commissioned after 1970.
Torn by racial strife in the Military Services, the younger officers were much less open-minded, and did not hold a comprehensive view of our National Interest, or their personal career interests. They divided into "stovepipes" or cells, determined more by their race, or region of origin, and behaved as members of "cliques". As the older officers retired, those that replaced them were less and less interested in retaining the proven practices that came before. "Administrative" processes replaced personal involvement in solving training and morale issues. The overall quality of management declined as I approached retirement in 1982. "Reaganism" and the after-effects of racial strife among "enlisteds" in uniform, took its toll on management.
Cheney and Rumsfeld "finished off" the military; making it a shadow of what it was in 1962. As a result, nobody shares belief that our Wars under Cheney/Bush were in the "National Interest".
Before I met General Davis at the Red Barn, I had been told by the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the Fort Huachuca era, what Eisenhower and his buddies did to keep the push for Integration by men
who served as "Tuskeegee Airmen" from succeeding.
Stay Vigilant! Do YOU know what is in our National Interest? Who Decides?
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