{"id":56139,"date":"2019-09-10T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/10\/how-to-bridge-the-divide-between-civilians-and-the-military-first-responders\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:02:10","slug":"how-to-bridge-the-divide-between-civilians-and-the-military-first-responders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/09\/10\/how-to-bridge-the-divide-between-civilians-and-the-military-first-responders\/","title":{"rendered":"How to bridge the divide between civilians and the military, first responders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For 18 years our nation has been at war. In the face of conflict and adversity at home and abroad, brave Americans have volunteered to serve not only in our armed forces but as first responders in thousands of communities across the country. Between them, more than 4.4 million men and women have taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and pledged to protect the freedoms and securities we enjoy as Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 9\/11, however, observers have acknowledged a widening gap<\/a> of \u201cunderstanding\u201d between the 2.1 million Americans who serve in our all-volunteer military force and the rest of the population. While our nation\u2019s longest war continues and hundreds of thousands of service members still and will continue to deploy each year, a majority of military families feel increasingly isolated from their communities and disconnected from their civilian counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans are also less personally connected to military service than ever before. According to the Department of Defense, the number of young adults with parents who have served in the military<\/a> has dropped from 40 percent in 1995 to 15 percent today, and less than 1 percent of the U.S. population currently serves in the armed forces, compared with more than 12 percent during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\t