General Sir Richard Dannatt made a powerful point last week when he deplored the lack of respect with which our service men and women are regarded when they return from theatres of conflict to these islands.
As Col Bob Stewart writes elsewhere in today's Daily Telegraph, it is as if our national soul has "gone missing" in respect of our armed forces.
It may well be the case that many people are opposed to the Iraq war, and have negative feelings about the much more justifiable involvement of this country in Afghanistan. But those are political considerations.
Our soldiers, sailors and airmen are not politicians. They are doing a difficult and often lethal job for our country out of a sense of duty. It often entails sacrifice and heroism. There is simply no excuse to play it down.
That is why there should be parades, as in earlier conflicts, when regiments, ships or squadrons return from the front line.
That local authorities feel unmotivated to do this reflects not merely a complacency about this supreme sacrifice, but also a contempt for it.
Any member of the public who turned out at such a parade would not be endorsing any particular war, or political decision. He or she would be saluting the bravery and dedication of our service men and women: it would be a dignified and appropriate act of reconnection with what Col Stewart correctly calls our "soul".
Only recently the shocking conditions in which the forces live, and the serious lack of care for those wounded or invalided out, was highlighted in these pages. It is time politicians, nationally and locally, gave a strong lead in paying the proper respect to those who are prepared to give their lives for the country.
Those local councils with garrisons, dockyards or air bases to which service people will soon be returning should make the appropriate plans to honour them. Whatever we think of wars, we owe these people more than we can express.
