I am not patriotic, at least not towards the idea of the U.S. pero that doesn’t mean that on a “holiday” like today, I don’t recognize the role that Latinos have played and continued to play in the U.S. military and what a strange and ironic role that is.

I have a prima who is in the Air Force and in Iraq now. Pero let me be clear. She joined the military as an escape from a difficult life.

My Tio R. was in the army for a few years when I was a child and I remember the pride in my abuela’s face showing off photos of him in uniform. No one asked. So he didn’t tell until he left.

My Tio R., now happily retired in Puerto Rico, fought in the Korean War, along with many other Puerto Ricans.

Almost daily I watch military recruiters swarm around young men of color as they travel the subway tunnels to and from underpaid work and to and from underfunded schools. The carrot is money and stability, not death and invasion.

I understand the desire to give back to a country you feel has supported you. I understand the need to belong in a country that has never let people like my prima and my tios belong. Pero I also understand the illusion and delusion. The push forward of brown bodies on the front lines invading brown nations. The need to survive balanced against the options offered.

So yes, I remember and respect pero I also understand that being part of this military industrial complex isn’t always about choice.