In recent months, there’s been a lot of noise about the 1%. This article from The Washington Post describes these “disconnected-from-American-society-individuals as: ” … the top 1 percent of American households had a minimum income of $516,633 in 2010 — a figure that includes wages, government transfers and money from capital gains, dividends and other investment income.”[EDITOR’S NOTE: Note that a huge percentage of elected “public servants” fall into this category.]

Now meet the 1/2 % – an even smaller “disconnected-from-American-society-individuals” … the sons, daughters, husbands, wives, nephews, nieces and other family members and friends who serve in the United States military. These individuals get paid substantially less and many of them risk their lives to do what others increasingly are not willing to do … “really serve their country.”

There is an increasing disconnect between these centurions who are willing to serve this nation by giving up years of their lives and even their lives to do the nasty stuff that the 1%-ers (including the “public servants”) lay out for them. It’s time to stand up and applaud them!

The current issue of VFW Magazine carried an article entitled “Vet Views on Society and Service” – it is an overview of the Pew Research Center report, “War and Sacrifice in the Post-911 Era: The Military-Civilian Gap.” To read an overview of this report or to download the complete report, click here.

After reading the report and the VFW Magazine article, Jack Nicholson’s famous “You can’t handle the truth” monologue may have increased relevance.