Memorial Day
My neighbor was deployed to Iraq for the past 7½ months. Her family kept a jar of chocolate kisses in the kitchen. Starting with over 230 candies on the day of her departure, her 9-year-old daughter ate a kiss for each day of her mother’s deployment that passed. The jar is empty now. My neighbor is home, until her next assignment in a few short weeks.
Thus ends a tour and begins a series of cultural transitions that is at once unique to each service member, common among service members and unimaginable to many civilians.
Our country learned at least one lesson from Vietnam: that even violent disagreement with policy makers never justifies dissing – or discriminating against – the soldiers who carried out that policy. Veterans were added to the list of legally protected classes in 1974 to give that lesson some teeth. Did it end there?
From Compliance to Inclusion
Differences between military and civilian cultures continue to affect workplaces and communities. Service members may be subjected to assumptions or stereotypes, especially where their numbers are few. Co-workers may ask inappropriate questions[1], may expect one service member to answer for all or may avoid them completely. Other identities that are important to each soldier may be disregarded, even when those identities show the way to common ground. These factors can complicate relationships on the job but can also make it more difficult to even get the job.
Service members can also become a majority. Organizations may experience another type of diversity challenge when, as one example, retired officers from the same service branch make up a majority in company management. The U.S. military was the first institution to racially integrate; it was a pioneer in “diversity training,” tackling again primarily issues of race relations where reliance on order and each other was paramount. That training alone, however, did not prepare many retired officers for the workplace diversity of today.
Then there are the dependents. Last Mothers’ Day, my neighbor’s daughter and I sat under a tree, ate watermelon, talked about puppies and about how many kisses were left in the jar. Long separations from loved ones and nomadic lives in diverse communities can shape unique challenges, abilities and resiliencies for those in the military dependent subculture.
Next Monday is Memorial Day, a day our country ostensibly remembers those who have fallen in service. As you think about what you’re doing on your day off, it might also be an opportunity to simply thank those you know who have served. It is certainly an opportunity to think more deeply about the diversity among us and those questions of inclusive culture that begin where questions of legal compliance end.
Note: Soldiers today are returning to civilian life with combat-related disabilities that are more difficult to see, diagnose and treat than ever before. These conditions impact service members themselves, their families and the communities to which they return. The Wounded Warrior Project was founded to assist the new generation of injured service men and women, and is an information resource for all who would like to contribute.
Contact us for additional resources and activities you can use in your workplace to build understanding of this and other diversity dimensions.
[1] Former US Army Ranger and Purple Heart recipient, Dale Collie, wrote an article entitled, “Military Veterans – What Not to Ask.” Contact Dale for more info.
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