A Veteran’s View

By Jim Daly

America’s youth today have a wonderful world to live in. We have the internet, reliable cars, boats, television, radio and music, comfortable homes, public education and countless government services. Would our world or our country be the same without the service and sacrifice by America’s veterans? The simple answer is no way.

What if American revolutionaries had not stood up to the British government and their world colonization attitude, and we had not won the Revolutionary War? We would not have the government that we have. We would serve the queen. We could not elect much of our government. Our justice system would not be what it is. The highway system would certainly be different. We would be driving on the opposite side of the road in much different cars. Education would be different. Some might say it would be better, but ours is pretty good. Our economy and economics would be different with different money, different banking systems, and different investment systems.

In the War of 1812, we fought again for our freedom from that same oppressive colonial ruler we had beaten 30 years earlier.

The Civil War was fought over the right of secession. What if the southern states had seceded and become sovereign nations? We would look like Europe or South America, with many small countries on the same continent. Our country would be much different, much smaller with more borders. There would be much different laws governing natural resources and the environment. Trade and transportation would be much more difficult and likely more costly. Travel would be more difficult, with many different sets of rules and regulations, different monies and possibly different languages.

The United States entered World War I because Germany was at war with our allies and was sinking any shipping on the open seas, including U.S. ships, killing many Americans. We could not allow this to continue, so we entered the war to stop that and to support our longtime allies. After the war, trade with the allies was essentially free, and our industrial production supported much of the world. Had Germany won, America would likely have been plundered to repair and replace the German losses and used-up resources. And our world would look much different. Again, a different government, different economy, different education and government systems.

The result of losing World War II would have been similar to the result losing WWI, only 10 times worse.

The many other conflicts since (Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom) where our veterans served were primarily to support our allies and maintain our position as a world power. This earned and kept the respect of the world and kept us safe from foreign attack.

Protecting our borders, our resources, our government, our economy, our freedoms and our allies is what America’s veterans have done to benefit our youth today. Our world, our country, was created on the foundation built by America’s veterans. If those veterans had not responded when needed, what would the world look like today? Answer that yourself, but remember: Much of the science and technology that we enjoy and makes our world what it is, was originally developed by the government and the military in response to the needs of the military or of war.

I was personally involved in one of those significant technology developments while in the Marine Corps, stationed at the U.S. Army Communication and Electronics Command.

The internet was originally developed by the government for the military. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was a classified system for sharing research and development product information among the U.S. government, U.S. military, educational institutions, and companies involved in research and/or development programs for the government.

In 1983, DARPA adopted TCP/IP version 4.0 as the communications protocol (electronic language) for government systems. In 1987, the Army realized that IP was too slow to be effective in many new systems, so an Army science team made up of corporate, education, and military experts (including Capt. Jim Daly, USMC), in the computer field was assembled. Forty-five of the best minds in the country met at Stanford University for nine weeks to redesign and improve the efficiency of the TCP/IP protocol.

As the contract originator, CECOM sent me to oversee the discussions and engineering as the secretary of this team. After nine weeks we completed a design for TCP/IP that was eight times faster than the original, within the same architecture. It later became known as IP version 4.1. We are now in version 6.

There are many other examples of systems and products we enjoy today that were originally designed, developed and produced for the military or the government. So, I submit to you that virtually everything our youth know and have today, are benefits we enjoy because of the service and sacrifice of our American veterans.

I am proud to have been one of those veterans, and would gladly defend this great country again today or any day.

Jim Daly is a retired Marine Corps captain with a long involvement in the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He lives in Aberdeen.

* * *

Starting today, Jim Daly will write a monthly column for The Daily World. He has written for the editorial page before, usually for Veterans Day and Memorial Day and about veterans issues.

He came to the Harbor when he was 12, graduated from Aberdeen High in 1970 and volunteered for the Marine Corps, which led to military and civilian careers in the high-tech field. He served in Vietnam and returned to Grays Harbor in 2002.

“I write from the heart, the way I talk, so my grammar is not perfect. But I hope that you feel my emotion, conviction and sincerity in my writings,” Daly said of the way he plans to approach his column. “Right now many of the ideas I have for future articles, I have pulled from past Veterans of Foreign Wars national scholarship program essay topics. I would gladly accept suggestions from the public as well that can be submitted to the Aberdeen VFW in writing or as a telephone message at 360-533-9863.”