THE UNIVERSITY OF DALY KANSAN
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2008
NEWS
3A
MILITARY
ROTC to honor armed forces veterans
Geoff Barnes, joint service liaison officer, in Afghanistan in 2007 with Todd Mesman, his assistant crew chief. Barnes and Mesman were preparing to return to Baqram Air Force Base, the main Air Force base in Afghanistan.
BY HALEY JONES hjones@kansan.com
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Geoff Barnes has been enlisted in the armed forces for more than eight years and has served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan for a total of 18 months. He's 26 years old.
He is among those who will be honored tonight at the KU ROTC Veterans Day ceremonies. The ceremonies will also include an address about the need to reinstate the draft in armed forces.
Barnes, graduate student and a member of the KU Air Force ROTC, said that after he joined the military, Veterans Day took on a new meaning.
"It's a day to think about the sacrifices people made for our country," he said. "But once you have to go and see and make the sacrifices, it's a little more of something solid to think about. I definitely don't just think about that one day a year."
The KU Army, Naval and Air Force ROTC will gather tonight for a vigil to honor veterans in the armed forces who have served their country.
Ceremonies are scheduled to begin with a flag retreat at 4 p.m. on the Strong Hall lawn. A 24-hour vigil will begin at 7 p.m. at the three memorials on campus; the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial and the World War II Memorial Campanile. All events are free and open to the public.
A reception in Budig Hall and an address from speaker Adrian Lewis, professor of history and director of the Office of Military Graduate Education, will follow the flag ceremonies Friday night.
Lewis said he planned to speak about the need to reinstate the draft, which was abolished in 1973 at the end of the Vietnam War. The selective service process, which is voluntary, has been used since World War I. He admitted it wasn't a popular idea among politicians or military professionals, but said
the army and Marine Corps were stretched to the limit, which could lead to greater international instability.
"Threats are all over the world" he said. "The strategic reserve is at an all-time low and, as a consequence of that, we don't have enough man power to do everything that needs to be done."
"I just think it's really important that we honor their commitment and their sacrifice for this country."
Lewis said less that one percent of the nation served in the armed forces. He said the stress of being in an overstretched military has increased the divorce rate, suicide rate and family problems among those who served. He also said 80 percent of the army suffered from
"It seems inexcessable to me to place the burden of war on less than one percent of the nation," he said.
post-traumatic stress disorder.
LARRY DITTON
Air force ROTC junior
"What does that say about American nationalism?"
"One of the great things about our military is that it's an all-volunteer force," Barnes said. "Fewer people end up getting more done because the people there want to do it."
Although Barnes agreed that many soldiers had spent too much time overseas, he disagreed that the draft needed to be reinstated.
Although less than one percent of the 300 million American citizens enlist in the armed forces, those who enlist do so whole-heartedly.
Larry Ditton, Olathe junior and member of the KU Air Force ROTC, watched his grandfather serve in the army his entire career. Ditton said although he himself wasn't a veteran, he had experienced a bit of what his grandfather felt in serving his country.
"I just think it's really important that we honor their commitment and their sacrifice for this country" he said.
A 5K Veteran's Day run is scheduled at 7 a.m. Saturday at the Burge Union. Entry fees are $15 and all proceeds will be donated to Veterans Upward Bound. Registration forms are available at the Military Science Building, south of Budig Hall, or on active com.
Edited by Brieun Scott
Obama may not want it, at least as designed by the Republican Bush administration, seen as slow to embrace the role of honest Mideast broker. Many of Obama's foreign policy advisers were players in the Clinton administration's extensive Mideast peace efforts and are unenthusiastic about President Bush's hands-off approach.
After months of publicly insisting that an agreement still could be sealed by the year-end deadline set by the two sides and Bush last November in Annapolis, Md., U.S. officials said Thursday for the first time it would have to wait.
Bush has employed Rice as a goad and monitor, but not a central negotiator. The administration said that to be viable, any deal should come from the Israelis and Palestinians themselves. Rice's eighth visit to the region since the Annapolis peace conference had been intended as a push for urgent progress on the modest gains from a year of U.S.-sponsored talks between Israel and one part of the fractured Palestinian leadership.
"We do not think it is likely it will happen before the end of the year,"White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in Washington after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged as much at the start of a Mideast trip.
INTERNATIONAL
Bush administration gives up on peace deal JERUSALEM — The Bush administration has conceded that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is no longer possible by the end of its term and is preparing to hand the fragile, unfinished U.S.-backed peace effort to President-elect Obama.
Instead, amid political uncertainty in Israel, where a corruption scandal is forcing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from office, the administration is focused on keeping the two sides from backsliding. Rice wants them to produce a placeholding affirmation of their commitment to the peace process.
Associated Press
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