Conspicuous abscences

I was at two different events today where veterans were asked to stand and be recognized.

I won't claim to have seen everyone who stood at each event, and I may be off in my age estimates, but every single person I saw standing looked to be at least my father's age -- the Vietnam generation.

America has been at war for a decade. While we haven't seen the far-reaching drafts of Vietnam or World War Two, Vermont has always had a high proportion of its population serving and many who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan -- or both -- have returned.

So, it surprises me that I didn't see any younger faces.

Early in the previous decade, I did a story on declining membership in veterans' organizations. I was told that the WWII generation was dying off and the Vietnam veterans never joined such groups in nearly the same numbers. I wonder what the situation with our current crop of veterans will be.