The question is “proud or not proud” to be an American.

I will give my two cents worth: I was a combat veteran of the Vietnam War. At least when we were thinking about it, “proud” was not the word: “cause” was the word, and we were fighting for what turned out to be a lost cause; but at least, it was a cause.

Now American policymakers appear to be guided by sheer mercenarism. It’s “I take and take and take.” That has translated into our military under the Donald Trump administration and Trump’s toady, the “honorable” Pete Hegseth, who has gotten rid of more than two-dozen senior military leaders with little or no explanation.

Those include: Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr., the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s chief of naval operations; Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the Coast Guard; Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff; Gen. James Mingus, the vice chief of staff of the Army; and most recently, Gen. Chris Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa.

Need I say more?

Michael E. Peterson
Eugene