ANZAC day is always hard for me. I miss my Dad. I don't miss that he was always totally munted, and often missing, on ANZAC day. I hate the establishment that sent him on a covert operation, then refused to acknowledge his unit's existence when they returned. #LestWeForget

I hate that, as a chopper gunner, my dad was ordered to open fire on women & children in a village in Vietnam & was sent home, branded a coward, when he refused to comply with that order. He was a hero. #LestWeForget

My father's unit was in Vietnam before Australian officially announced its involvement in Vietnam. They were attached to a US unit and no records of them leaving, or returning to Australia, were kept. #LestWeForget

Dad's unit were designated "trainers" of US military personnel. They weren't there to train. They were in South Vietnam to kill Viet Cong, including the women and children. #LestWeForget

Dad faithfully attended dawn services every year. The light in his eyes dimmed a little more as the numbers of men from his unit decreased, year by year, mostly from suicide. #LestWeForget

With no record of their operations in Vietnam, Dad, and the men from his unit weren't entitled to the usual support afforded to veterans. Dad tried, in vain, for years to be acknowledged by the government. #LestWeForget

Even when Dad was diagnosed with cancer, the government still wouldn't award him a Gold Card. He went to his grave seeking acknowledgement that never came. #LestWeForget

Dad spent his whole life trying to live up to his father, a decorated Colonel in both world wars, and his Uncle and Aunt, all ANZAC "heroes". He lived his life based on the belief that, if you weren't in the history books, you were no one. #LestWeForget

We, as a society, continue to glorify the notion of war. We hold the military above civilians as though they're all golden angels, pure of heart and heroic of deed. Reality is often far from this ideal. #LestWeForget

We continue to fight wars, believing that good is triumphing over evil. Often, we're actually sacrificing men & women from lower socio-economic backgrounds, for a battle over political ideology and resources. #LestWeForget

The rich continue to get rich. The poor continue to suffer and die. Very rarely does anyone who has a hand in starting a war, or their family members, actually suffer or die in a war. Still, we glorify war and perpetuate the myths surrounding it. #LestWeForget

Our people continue to march off to war, with visions of heroic deeds and vanquishing enemies in their heads. They get to the front line & find that it's nothing like the movies. It's dirty & cruel & the "enemy" are just young people, like them. #LestWeForget

We train people to be killers. We condition them to see other human beings as targets. We demonise whole populations of people to achieve unquestioning loyalty to our flag. Then we bring them home & expect them to settle back into civilian life. #LestWeForget

Simultaneously, we idolise veterans, while denying them the support they need to re-assimilate (if they ever can) back into "civilised" society. Our governments wipe their hands of their care. Our governments deny & cover up their misdeeds. #LestWeForget

Every year, we commemorate the sacredness of our military. We lay wreaths and say prayers and give thanks for our freedom. Then, the next day, we complain about the vagrants in our parks and the vicious men beating & murdering their wives and children. #LestWeForget

As we lay our wreaths and glorify past battles, we never think about the generational trauma suffered by families of returned soldiers. The nightmare of the alcoholism, violence & depression brought into homes by war.
#LestWeForget

We don't think about the children of children of veterans, and how their parenting skills & coping skills are shaped by survivors of war. Just as we achieve generational healing, another war is begun & the cycle starts all over again. #LestWeForget

We're told that, "those who forget our history are doomed to repeat it", and yet, we remember war, every day on the 25th of April. Still, we continue to repeat the same, futile practices of marching off to war to fulfil the fantasies of politicians and despots. #LestWeForget

War is futile. It's based on the egos of men.
For millennia, we've waged war on this tiny blue planet which has all we need to exist in a veritable paradise.
We celebrate strength. We ridicule compassion. We never learn from the history that we remember.
#LestWeForget

Perhaps it's time for humans to evolve and move past the glorification of the fantasy that is war and military might? Perhaps it's time to slay the sacred cow?
#LestWeForget

This thread is via an essay I've written.
I consider it my own intellectual property.
Please consult me and don't plagiarise, if you wish to use any part of it.

#LestWeForget