I recently received this in an email from my Senator:

“In a time when our society looks to the tabloids and the entertainment industry for their heroes. I would adamantly argue that the true heroes in our society are the ones we are recognizing this morning, who have volunteered their lives to serve our country. They are the ones who deserve our respect, our honor, and our prayers.”

The “support our troops” rhetoric abounds. It even has its own web site. Here’s my question: what is it about military personnel that makes them so dramatically worthy of recognition?

I’m not saying that military personnel don’t deserve recognition. They have a hard job. But news flash! So do a lot of people. How about Doctors Without Borders? These people go into the same war zones that military personnel go into, except they do it unarmed, and with the goal of saving lives. Oh, and they do it for free.

Aside from injuries and death associated with stray bullets, mines and epidemic disease, [Doctors Without Borders] volunteers are sometimes attacked or kidnapped for political reasons. In some countries afflicted by civil war, humanitarian aid organizations may be viewed as helping the enemy, if an aid mission has been set up exclusively for victims on one side of the conflict, and be attacked for that reason. Aside from injuries and death associated with stray bullets, mines and epidemic disease, [Doctors Without Borders]volunteers are sometimes attacked or kidnapped for political reasons. In some countries afflicted by civil war, humanitarian aid organizations may be viewed as helping the enemy, if an aid mission has been set up exclusively for victims on one side of the conflict, and be attacked for that reason.

So where is the, “Support our Doctors Without Borders” movement? There isn’t one. You don’t see CNN giving free airtime so that Doctors Without Borders can send messages home. You don’t see school kids putting together care packages for them. You don’t see senators saying that, “Doctors Without Borders are the real heroes.” Well, okay, sometimes you do, but it never approaches the near-fetishistic level that I see with the military. If you happen to be at an event where there are some Doctors Without Borders, they might get fawned over, but they’re seldom brought up out of the blue, like the military.

Doctors Without Borders is just one example that I came up with off the top of my head. Harsh environments? Long hours? Putting one’s life on the line? Going willingly into mortal danger? For every aspect of a military job that makes it particularly deserving of respect, I can think of a civilian job that has the same characteristics. So I ask you: What is it about military personnel that makes them more deserving of respect and support than civilians who do jobs with similar characteristics?