"This year's Veterans Day celebration is especially significant as our country remains committed to fighting the War on Terror and as brave men and women are heroically defending our homeland"
About this Quote
John Doolittle links a day of remembrance to a moment of ongoing conflict, turning Veterans Day from a ceremonial pause into an affirmation of national purpose. The phrase especially significant signals that commemoration is not only about past service but about the present, with troops deployed and risks immediate. By invoking the War on Terror, he taps into the post-9/11 vocabulary that framed U.S. policy as a long struggle against a diffuse threat. The abstraction of that term broadens the scope of service: any deployment, intelligence effort, or domestic security role becomes part of a singular, morally charged campaign.
The language of heroically defending our homeland does more than praise. Homeland, a word that surged in public use with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, locates the moral center of the fight at home, turning distant theaters of war into extensions of domestic defense. That phrasing creates a clear good-versus-evil narrative and encourages unity by presenting military action as protective rather than aggressive.
There is also a strategic conflation at work. Veterans Day traditionally honors all who have served, in peace and in war, while Memorial Day mourns the fallen. Doolittle emphasizes those currently serving, implicitly expanding the category of veteran to include active defenders. That emphasis binds gratitude for past sacrifice to support for present policy. In the political climate of the early 2000s, such statements worked to sustain public morale, legitimize funding and deployments, and forestall dissent by folding disagreement into the risk of undermining those in harm’s way.
At the same time, the statement underscores an enduring civic obligation: if service members are defending the homeland, the nation owes them care, benefits, and remembrance. The rhetoric elevates sacrifice, reinforces a shared identity, and frames Veterans Day as both commemoration and commitment, an annual pledge that the country stands behind those it sends to face danger in its name.
The language of heroically defending our homeland does more than praise. Homeland, a word that surged in public use with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, locates the moral center of the fight at home, turning distant theaters of war into extensions of domestic defense. That phrasing creates a clear good-versus-evil narrative and encourages unity by presenting military action as protective rather than aggressive.
There is also a strategic conflation at work. Veterans Day traditionally honors all who have served, in peace and in war, while Memorial Day mourns the fallen. Doolittle emphasizes those currently serving, implicitly expanding the category of veteran to include active defenders. That emphasis binds gratitude for past sacrifice to support for present policy. In the political climate of the early 2000s, such statements worked to sustain public morale, legitimize funding and deployments, and forestall dissent by folding disagreement into the risk of undermining those in harm’s way.
At the same time, the statement underscores an enduring civic obligation: if service members are defending the homeland, the nation owes them care, benefits, and remembrance. The rhetoric elevates sacrifice, reinforces a shared identity, and frames Veterans Day as both commemoration and commitment, an annual pledge that the country stands behind those it sends to face danger in its name.
Quote Details
| Topic | Military & Soldier |
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