Remember what General Kelly said

At war with a Commander-in-Chief who has little regard for those who truly sacrifice for the country.

I offer a reminder today that Gen. John Kelly, U.S. Marine Corps retired and former White House chief of staff, verified in 2023 what The Atlantic reported in 2020: Trump spoke of those killed in combat for the country as “suckers” and “losers.”

Here is how Kelly described Trump in a statement released to the news media: “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

Who among us would say such monstrous things about men and women who have died or been wounded in the line of duty?

It was Trump’s reported comments about the Vietnam War and how he considered those who went into combat there to be “suckers” that really burned. Trump was of age to have been drafted into that war, but, of course, he received four deferments, three for college and one for “bone spurs,” and never came close to military service.

I am several years younger than Trump and, though I had a low number in the Selective Service lottery of 1972, I was lucky not to be called; the draft was winding down by then. It ended in 1973.

And there has been no draft since. So we have had two generations, perhaps three now, who have been lucky: No mandatory service, no time away from college or careers or loved ones, no danger of being shot or maimed.

We went to an all-volunteer military and yet, since Vietnam, have been engaged in two long wars and several major military operations, and now Trump has launched an unauthorized war in the Middle East without a clear explanation of objectives.

Some 35 years ago, during the first Gulf War, “We support our troops” appeared on bumper stickers and that sentiment became a constant American theme: We might not volunteer, and no one we know serves in the military, but we support our troops.

The sentiment is sincere, but limited. We respect those who serve, but the vast majority of Americans want nothing to do with the military — and for many reasons: Some hate war and the military-industrial complex; some are too busy building careers to take time away for service to the country; some just aren’t inclined to volunteer (for anything), and some never even consider the idea. Most are never even asked to.

I was lucky to avoid Vietnam. I remember thinking college deferments were wrong: Why should guys avoid the draft just because they were in college? I thought a real draft meant everybody had to do something. In World War I, the Congress passed laws to make sure the burden was spread throughout the country’s social classes — that the farmer’s son would be drafted along with the Princeton grad. But that ideal disappeared during Vietnam, and soon, rather than be pestered by angry constituents who did not want their sons and daughters being shot, politicians in Washington did away with the draft.

And soon a great divide developed between those who serve and those who don’t.

“The main reason that the [Iraq war] remains so remote from the lives of middle-class Americans is the absence of a military draft,” Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate, wrote in 2006. “This is a subject that no one seems to want to talk about. Supporters of the war definitely do not want to talk about it. President Bush and Vice President Cheney react angrily to any suggestion that a draft might be needed, because they know that the prospect of conscription would make their decision to invade Iraq even more unpopular. Having lived through Vietnam and shirked the draft themselves, they understand that if people anywhere near their own station in life were forced to fight, any remaining support for wars of arguable necessity would dry up and blow away.”

So now we have Trump, who not only avoided military service but regarded it as an endeavor for “suckers,” sending our all-volunteer military to war in the most volatile region of the world. This war appears even more fraught than previous ones because of the historical, political and theological dynamics of the Middle East. But also for this reason: The Commander-in-Chief of the world’s mightiest military is emotionally and intellectually incapable of appreciating the grave consequences of his actions, and because we know from Gen. Kelly that he has little regard for those who truly sacrifice for the country.