The Ultimate Sacrifice

Over 1,800 American military personnel have died in Iraq. They have made what has been called “the ultimate sacrifice”.

When I started law school in 1962, American involvement in Vietnam was somewhat minimal. By the time I was finishing law school in 1965, our involvement in Vietnam was so extensive that the draft was being used to force unwilling young American men into military service.

Despite 20/400 eyesight, color defective vision, a slight heart murmur and flat feet, at 5-11 and 145 pounds, my country considered me prime meat and classified me as 1-A, notifying me to report for induction after finishing law school. During this same era, NFL quarterback Joe Namath, was classified 4-F, exempt from the draft because of a bad knee, which did not keep him from leading the NY Jets to victory in Super Bowl III in 1969.

I have always remembered my constitutional law professor, Arval Morris, now an emeritus member of the faculty, saying that under the war powers in the constitution, a person in military service could legitimately be ordered to “take the shot”, meaning he could be ordered to charge the cannon of the enemy and throw his body across the muzzle to interfere with the cannonball being fired, thereby allowing his fellow troops a better opportunity to advance on the enemy. Refusing such an order in the heat of battle meant his commander could shoot him dead on the spot.

I was opposed to the war in Vietnam and definitely did not want to take the shot. Using my newly acquired legal skills, I appealed my induction notice long enough to give me time to enter the Air Force Reserve, “recruited” by Reiko’s dad, who had already enlisted as a reservist. Our reserve unit was called into active service in 1968, but we never went to Vietnam, though Reiko’s dad was sent to Korea for a time. Today, without a draft, the military is calling up reserve and national guard units and sending them to combat zones to take the shot, making the ultimate sacrifice.

The Pentagon supposedly was so interested in protecting the privacy of the families of military personnel killed in Iraq that it did not even want pictures of their flag draped coffins to be shown. The real reason for the ban, of course, was to deny Americans the right to empathize with those who made the ultimate sacrifice and with their families. The rule has been rescinded now, not because of a change of heart by the Pentagon, but because of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, as indicated in this interesting NPR commentary on the subject [the first part of the audio talks of the Iraq constitution but then it moves into discussion of the coffin rule].

One mother whose son made the ultimate sacrifice last year in Iraq, is reminding George W. Bush of that every day during his current vacation at the ranch in Crawford. Pictures of all the Americans killed in Iraq, with brief details, are available at the CNN site.

I believe those still driving around with American flags on their cars, supposedly as some indication that they support our troops, would be offering the deepest support if they were displaying flag draped coffins on their cars instead.