TUESDAY’S misty rain was somehow fitting for the 96th Remembrance Day as though the heavens were quietly weeping for the thousands of Australians who gave their lives for their country through its relatively short history.
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When measured in years of life lost, the statistic assumes a particularly grim dimension: some 2.5 million years of life sacrificed on the anvil of war.
Of course, not all casualties of war fall on the battlefield. Far too many fall once they have returned home, shattered and broken by what they have seen.
Another shocking statistic that came to light on Monday: more than double the serving men and women who were killed in war since 2001 have taken their own lives. That sobering reflection of the cruelty of armed conflict has led to calls, supported by local veterans, for an extra minute of silence for those taken by war long after the guns have fallen silent.
It seems bitterly ironic that just as the nation once again sends its young soldiers, sailors and airmen into a rekindled conflict in the Middle East, the pay and conditions of those placed in harm’s way is being whittled away by government cutbacks.
In among all the solemn remembrance of those lost to history we cannot lose sight of those who will face the same risks as we head into an increasingly uncertain and dangerous future.
As a nation, we must do our best to look after those who serve and make extraordinary sacrifices in our defence. At the very least that means keeping their pay in line with inflation and ensuring their conditions compensate them for the hardship they will endure.
