Ron Lands

Because someone from every generation of my family since the Revolutionary War has served in the armed forces

Someone from every generation of my family since the Revolutionary War has served in the armed forces. Some of my DNA was spilled on the beach at the Battle of Leyte in WWII and buried seven years before I was born in a cemetery a mile from where I grew up. My dad served during WWII and the Korean conflict. I was a peacetime soldier.

I can’t explain why I felt obligated to serve any more than I can know whether my ancestors had noble ideas about why they fought. I like to think they valued the freedoms promised by our Constitution and wanted to perpetuate the experiment that is now the longest continuous working democracy in history. I am astounded that anyone would want to dismantle it.

I’m embarrassed by an ex-president who has personally reaped benefits others died to preserve, then boasts that he avoided service because of a refractory case of bone spurs. Theodore Roosevelt would label him a cold and timid soul who sends others into the arena, then mocks them for going.

Kamala and Tim will represent all of us because they respect the Constitution and appreciate that America is great and is worth preserving despite its flaws. I’m hopeful that we can be even better.

Ron Lands is a retired cancer doctor who lives in the heart of Appalachia, where he reads, writes, and ruminates.