Apathy Is the Greatest Insult to the Memory of Fallen Soldiers

KYIV, Ukraine—I’ve experienced our country’s wars both as a combatant and a witness. I deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq while I was an Air Force special operations pilot, and I’ve been back to report on both of those wars as a journalist. I’ve also reported on U.S. military operations at other places in the Middle East and across Eastern Europe. And this summer I visited the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier off the coast of Syria, from which warplanes launched around the clock to wage the air war against the Islamic State terrorist group, also known as ISIS. Throughout my time on the front lines, both as a combatant and a journalist, I’ve heard a common, troubling refrain among America’s military personnel. -- More...