“Identification”

By Jim Culp

Today I was filling out a survey for the Veteran’s Affairs prescription system. I came to the last part where they ask about demography. It always asks “are you Latino?”

Then it asks if you are White, Black, Pink, or Purple. I have to tell you, dear reader, that in these days of everyone being offended, nothing could offend me more.

Why in God’s name does it matter what color I am? And why am I specifically asked if I am Latino or not? In my opinion, the very nature of that question is racist and bigoted. Now, if a survey is specifically designed to see what races live in one or the other demographic area, great. Specify that from the start, and we can all be some really happy campers.

The VA though? Sorry, wrong question to ask me. Here’s why folks.

In my wars, (1991-Liberation of Kuwait) and (2003-Invasion and Occupation of Iraq) I had to tell people to do things that I would never normally tell them. Some real life examples would be wearing a chemical suit for days and nights on end, and not showering for almost two months. Others would be guard duty on a hostile perimeter, working twelve hour shifts on a checkpoint when it is 127˚F or pouring rain, or following orders when mortars are landing near you and you have no place to run or hide.

In any of those situations (and many more), I didn’t ask Private Jones if he was Latino or English, or ask him what his skin color was, or what meats he couldn’t eat during Passover. I ordered him to go do his duty because he was a United States soldier, and had previously taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, and to obey the orders of the President and the Officers appointed over him.

When my commanders ordered me to take my unit into harm’s way, they didn’t ask me to check a block identifying myself by my race. My race didn’t matter then, and it sure as hell shouldn’t matter now.

In the age of “Me, too” and “Black Lives Matter,” it’s also important to veterans to be heard when they say they that they are sick of this country’s lack of support for them, and are tired of being identified and segregated into “color groups” for some fucking study that costs millions of dollars that should be used to buy newer equipment and for paying VA doctors and nurses better salaries.

In closing, don’t ask me my race or my color. You might as well just tell me that you are a racist up front, and that way we are straight with each other from the get-go.

-Jim