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“Veterans Day 2025: The Undoing?” by Timothy Trainer, author, The Fortunate Son

November 11, 2025 — The confrontations in the streets of U.S. cities between law enforcement and the people have already caused law enforcement agents and officers to be equated with Germany’s secret police of the 1930s, the Gestapo, because of the tactics used to pursue those illegally in the United States. The fully masked officers and agents whose indiscriminate conduct in pursuing suspects, including U.S. citizens, has caused them to be seen as enemies of the people in the eyes of many.

We’ve seen National Guard troops deployed to various cities around the country. Activated by governors or the president, they are in our cities and on our streets wearing military uniforms. To the civilian citizens who see and encounter these part-time soldiers, there’s likely to be no distinction made between the National Guard, reserve service members, and full-time active army troops.

The U.S. military is supposed to protect, yet it has experienced decades of mistrust. Many in society regarded the millions who served in Vietnam in a negative light for a prolonged period of years after the war. There was outright contempt toward those who served in the military during the Vietnam era. They carried with them the weight of a negative reputation for having served in an unpopular war that was decided by politicians. Very few Vietnam veterans escaped the war without physical injuries and/or mental traumas that resulted.

Those millions who served honorably during the Vietnam era were at the mercy of politicians. One could make a convincing argument that it was those politicians in Washington, D.C., who failed to act as honorably as those in uniform, fulfilling their obligations dutifully. The change in sentiment toward Vietnam veterans and the more positive light in which they now live have been hard-won recent developments.

In recent years, the public sentiment toward Vietnam veterans and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has been more positive as far as recognizing their service and sacrifice. The public seems to be able to distinguish between those who serve in uniform and those who make the political decision to send our troops into harm’s way, sometimes for unjustified and political reasons.

As we confront the real possibility that the current White House occupant will order active-duty military units onto the streets of our country to oppose their fellow citizens, I fear that we will undermine our military in ways that will, again, take decades to repair.

If army troops are ordered to quash the right of fellow citizens to exercise their free speech rights or to exercise their right to assemble, or for the media to cover a demonstration of people and citizens opposed to Trump policies and actions, what will the public’s view of our military be? How do citizens reconcile the true mission of the U.S. military with scenes of uniformed soldiers confronting citizens seeking to exercise their basic rights as citizens?

The excuse that “I’m just following orders” should not be acceptable if the actions deprive U.S. citizens of the rights the soldiers themselves took an oath to protect and defend.

Let us remind ourselves of the oath these soldiers took at the time they entered the U.S. military:

“I, __________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 502.

There is an interesting twist to the language of the oath, given that soldiers are required to obey the orders of the President and officers while still adhering to actions in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Like many things, it’s arguable that being ordered to deprive U.S. citizens of their rights under the Constitution is not a lawful order if it is simply to satisfy the whims of a president who simply wants to exercise authoritarian power without regard to the Constitution and the laws of the United States.

Essentially, we are seeing Trump use those in uniform as his pawns to punish anyone who disagrees, who fails to knuckle under, who fails to remain silent, and raises a voice against him.

The U.S. Army and the other branches of service exist to protect the country, not a person, not one man’s ego or reputation. Are we about to lose our balance and fall into a precipice with armed soldiers used as Trump’s private army to deprive U.S. citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed rights?

In my experience and opinion, I believe that if Trump uses the army as his private army, it may be undermined as a respected organization for years to come. And like the millions who served in Vietnam, those serving and following the orders of a wannabe authoritarian may endure years of having their service tainted for doing Trump’s dirty work on U.S. soil against U.S. citizens. It’s never easy to rebuild trust and reputation once damaged, just ask our Vietnam veterans.

This Veterans Day, our thoughts are not limited to those who have served, but also to those serving today.

The men and women in uniform are, once again, serving in a perilous time. Sadly, the current threats confronting our military members are many. One of those threats could be characterized as emanating from a domestic foe who occupies the White House and has no regard for either the U.S. Constitution or the nation’s laws.

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About the Timothy Trainer: Writing books is a passion for attorney Timothy Trainer, who for more than three decades focused on intellectual property issues in his day job. He has worked in government agencies and in the private sector and his assignments have taken him to 60 countries around the world.

Tim found time to pen a few non-fiction tomes, including his first book, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights; the 15th edition was published in 2022. Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore Books published Tim’s next title in 2015, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff. 

Fiction was a genre he always wanted to try. In 2019, Pendulum Over the Pacific, was released by Joshua Tree Publishing. “This political intrigue story is set in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and centers on trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s,” Tim explains.

In 2023, his first series hit bookstores: The China Connection.

In 2025, he published the sequel, The China Factor, which ranked #63 on the Amazon Asian Literature list in May.

Learn more about this book and Tim’s writing process when he’s interviewed by author Jeffrey James Higgins’ for his new Inkandescent podcast and video show: Elaine’s Literary Salon.

Learn about Tim’s work and books: timothytrainer.com