I never served in the armed forces. I have not lived through a conflict that anyone reasonably believed could cost me my life or my freedom. I don’t know anyone who died fighting for our country. For these omissions in my life, I have no regrets.
I have serious doubts that anyone without these experiences can feel as intensely patriotic as anyone with them. It is also completely obvious that even the best and most “realistic” of movies and literature portray warfare in a fragmented and sanitized way. Nevertheless, they are my point of reference, because nothing better is available.
What I can do, notwithstanding the acknowledged limits of my understanding, is try to put myself in the position of a young farmer from Ohio with no previous experience of warfare who found himself fighting desperately to save his country at Gettysburg, or a man who willingly gave up a comfortable desk job to throw grenades into tunnels in the face of withering Japanese fire on Okinawa because it needed to be done. My life today would be very different without them, so they are entitled to my undying thanks, and they have them.