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2019年5月27日是美国的阵亡将士纪念日，杨安泽当天上午给他的支持者们写了一封信，纪念为国捐躯的军人，同时阐述他作为2020美国总统候选人的对外军事政策。下面是中文译文，英文原文附在后面。
今天是阵亡将士纪念日！我希望你和你的家人度过美好的一天。
阵亡将士纪念日于1971年正式成为联邦节假日，但自19世纪60年代以来就一直以某种形式庆祝。今天，许多美国人 - 特别是那些没有服过役的人 - 在谈到战争时，并不真正了解和关心战争造成的后果。我们都会说：“谢谢你们（军人）为国服务。”却很少去深入思考，美国只有不到百分之一的人口服役意味着什么，即使在我们的50个州内，入伍率也存在显著差异，25％的现役军人和退伍军人都有创伤后遗症和其他心理健康问题。
为此，我问了一位我的工作人员 — 一位退伍老兵，在这个阵亡将士纪念日，要提醒美国人些什么。他推荐了一篇文章 — 菲尔·克莱（Phil Klay）的The Warrior at the Mall，我马上产生了共鸣 。克莱先生的观点是，由于只有少数美国人参战，而绝大多数美国人的生活与战争离得很远，对他们来说好像什么都没有发生，所以平民和退伍军人之间已经形成了鸿沟。这个鸿沟必须弥合，或者像克莱先生所说：
“我们国家有进一步滑向虚假的爱国主义的危险，即人人口头上说'军人是神圣的'，但实际上军人的工作和牺牲被人们忽视，我们在搞军事崇拜的同时，不去履行自己的公民义务。”
克莱先生也指出：
“在对几乎所有其他国家机构的尊重都很低落的时候，（美国人）对我们的军队的支持度依然很高，因此把军事作为一个楔子来进行宣传是有其合理性的。但......我们的军队存在的意义在于它所保护的公民生活和美国价值。“
也就是说，现在除了军队，我们并不信任美国社会的其它方面。但美国军队存在意义恰恰是为了捍卫我们的社会本身。
因此，我们应该认真对待我们的公民身份和责任，让我们的退伍军人觉得他们的牺牲是值得的。
如果有一种方式可以庆祝这个阵亡将士纪念日，除了反思和感谢我们的退伍军人和武装部队成员所做的一切之外，那就是试图让我们这个国家变得更值得他们为之牺牲。这包括慎重考虑把军人派往战场的决定，以及如何在他们回国以后继续支持他们。还有我们如何对待自己和社会的其他成员。
我本周会见了一个退伍军人组织，了解他们的工作。我见到的两位退伍军官都曾经作为海军陆战队队员在中东服役。现在，他们致力于一个试图结束“永久战争”的组织的工作，并倡导国会重新拿回属于自己的军事部署权，这个权力自2001年以来全部落入行政分支（总统及内阁）手里。这才是真正的爱国主义和为国服务。
我们可以做得更好，我们也会做得更好，为了我们的退伍军人和他们为之牺牲的国家 - 美国。
此致
杨安泽
（中文编译：殷余民）
附：英文原信
Yumin --
Happy Memorial Day!  I hope you are enjoying a wonderful day with loved ones and family.
Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971, though it has been celebrated in some form since the 1860s.  Today, many Americans—especially those who have not experienced personal loss in this arena—have a natural inclination not to look too closely when it comes to the results of the wars we are fighting or have fought.  We are quick with a, "Thank you for your service."  We are slow to think deeply about what it means that less than one percent of our population serves, and that even within our 50 states, there is a marked difference in enlistment rates, and that 25% of our active duty members and veterans show signs of PTSD and other mental health issues.
To this end, I asked a member of my staff who is a veteran what he would ask of Americans on this Memorial Day.  He recommended an essay that struck a chord with me—Phil Klay's The Warrior at the Mall.  The essence of Mr. Klay's argument is that, as a result of the same minority of Americans spending decades at war while an overwhelming majority carries on with their lives as if nothing is amiss, a chasm has opened up between civilians and veterans.  This chasm must be bridged, or, as Mr. Klay says:
"We risk our country slipping further into the practice of a fraudulent form of American patriotism, where 'soldiers are sacred,' the work of actual soldiering is ignored and the pageantry of military worship sucks energy away from the obligations of citizenship."
Mr. Klay also points out
"Support for our military remains high at a time when respect for almost every other institution is perilously low, so pushing a military angle as a wedge makes a certain kind of sense.  But ... our military is justified only by the civic life and values it exists to defend."
That is, we don't believe in much these days beyond our military.  But the military exists to defend our society itself.
Thus, we owe it to our veterans to take our citizenship seriously enough that it warrants their sacrifices.
If there is a way that we can celebrate this Memorial Day beyond reflecting on and thanking our veterans and members of the armed services for all they have done and given up, it would be to try to become more worthy of their sacrifice.  This includes examining our decisions to put our soldiers into harm's way and how we treat and support them after they return.  It even includes how we treat ourselves and other members of our society.
I met with a veterans' organization this week to learn about their experiences.  Both of the officials I met with served in the Middle East in the Marine Corps.  Now they work at an organization that tries to end the 'Forever Wars' and advocates for Congress regaining its say on military deployments which have fallen solely to the executive branch since 2001.  That is where their patriotism and service has led them.
We can do better.  We will do better.  For our veterans and the country they sacrificed so much for.
Respectfully,
-Andrew
【编者按】本文仅代表作者观点，不代表APAPA Ohio及OCAA官方立场。所有图片均由作者提供或来自网络。如存在版权问题，请与我们联系。更多精彩文章，请查看我们公众号的主页。欢迎大家积极投稿！
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