[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15378-15379]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    NATIONAL VETERANS AWARENESS WEEK

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, last week I had the honor of joining with 
52 of my colleagues in introducing a resolution, S. Res. 401, 
expressing the sense of the Senate that the week that includes 
Veterans' Day this year be designated as ``National Veterans Awareness 
Week.'' This marks the fifth year in a row that I have introduced such 
a resolution, which has been adopted unanimously by the Senate on all 
previous occasions.
  The purpose of National Veterans Awareness Week is to serve as a 
focus for educational programs designed to make students in elementary 
and secondary schools aware of the contributions of veterans and their 
importance in preserving American peace and prosperity. This goal takes 
on particular importance and immediacy this year as we find ourselves 
again with uniformed men and women in harm's way in foreign lands.
  Why do we need such an educational effort? In a sense, this action 
has become necessary because we are victims of our own success with 
regard to the superior performance of our armed forces. The plain fact 
is that there are just fewer people around now who have had any 
connection with military service. For example, as a result of 
tremendous advances in military technology and the resultant 
productivity increases, our current armed forces now operate 
effectively with a personnel roster that is one-third less in size than 
just 15 years ago. In addition, the success of the all-volunteer 
career-oriented force has led to much lower turnover of personnel in 
today's military than in previous eras when conscription was in place. 
Finally, the number of veterans who served during previous conflicts, 
such as World War II, when our military was many times larger than 
today, is inevitably declining.
  The net result of these changes is that the percentage of the entire 
population that has served in the Armed Forces is dropping rapidly, a 
change that can be seen in all segments of society. Whereas during 
World War II it was extremely uncommon to find a family in America that 
did not have one of its members on active duty, now there are numerous 
families that include no military veterans at all. Even though the 
Iraqi war has been prominently discussed on television and in the 
newspapers, many of our children are much more preoccupied with the 
usual concerns of young people than with keeping up with the events of 
the day. As a consequence, many of our youth still have little or no 
connection with or knowledge about the important historical and ongoing 
role of men and women who have served in the military. This omission 
seems to have persisted despite ongoing educational efforts by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and the veterans service organizations.
  This lack of understanding about military veterans' important role in 
our society can have potentially serious repercussions. In our country, 
civilian control of the armed forces is the key tenet of military 
governance. A citizenry that is oblivious to the capabilities and 
limitations of the armed forces, and to its critical role throughout 
our history, can make decisions that have unexpected and unwanted 
consequences. Even more important, general recognition of the 
importance of those individual character traits that are essential for 
military success, such as patriotism, selflessness, sacrifice, and 
heroism, is vital to maintaining these key aspects of citizenship in 
the armed forces and even throughout the population at large.
  The failure of our children to understand why a military is 
important, why our society continues to depend on it for ultimate 
survival, and why a successful military requires integrity and 
sacrifice, will have predictable consequences as these youngsters 
become of voting age. Even though military service is a responsibility 
that is no longer shared by a large segment of the population, as it 
has been in the past, knowledge of the contributions of those who have 
served in the Armed Forces is as important as it has ever been. To the 
extent that many of us will not have the opportunity to serve our 
country in uniform, we must still remain cognizant of our 
responsibility as citizens to fulfill the obligations we owe, both 
tangible and intangible, to those who do serve and who do sacrifice on 
our behalf.
  The importance of this issue was brought home to me five years ago by 
Samuel I. Cashdollar, who was then a 13-year-old seventh grader at 
Lewes Middle School in Lewes, DE. Samuel won the Delaware VFW's Youth 
Essay Contest that year with a powerful presentation titled ``How 
Should We Honor

[[Page 15379]]

America's Veterans''? Samuel's essay pointed out that we have Nurses' 
Week, Secretaries' Week, and Teachers' Week, to rightly emphasize the 
importance of these occupations, but the contributions of those in 
uniform tend to be overlooked. We don't want our children growing up to 
think that Veterans Day has simply become a synonym for department 
store sale, and we don't want to become a nation where more high school 
seniors recognize the name Britney Spears than the name Dwight 
Eisenhower.
  National Veterans Awareness Week complements Veterans Day by focusing 
on education as well as commemoration, on the contributions of the many 
in addition to the heroism and service of the individual. National 
Veterans Awareness Week also presents an opportunity to remind 
ourselves of the contributions and sacrifices of those who have served 
in peacetime as well as in conflict; both groups work unending hours 
and spend long periods away from their families under conditions of 
great discomfort so that we all can live in a land of freedom and 
plenty.
  Mr. President, last year, my resolution designating National Veterans 
Awareness Week had 66 cosponsors and was approved in the Senate by 
unanimous consent. Responding to that resolution, President Bush issued 
a proclamation urging our citizenry to observe National Veterans 
Awareness Week. I ask my colleagues to continue this trend of support 
for our veterans by endorsing this resolution again this year. Our 
children and our children's children will need to be well informed 
about what veterans have accomplished in order to make appropriate 
decisions as they confront the numerous worldwide challenges that they 
are sure to face in the future.

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