“Thank you for your service.” That means a lot whether the recipient of the greeting is a grizzled veteran or a youngster on active duty with one of our armed forces. Increasing numbers of the citizenry are using that salutation when they see men and women in uniform. Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a noted World War II veteran and an outstanding public servant, put emphasis on the importance of such a comment long ago and the trend has been spreading, to the appreciation of those in uniform.

Flash back 40 years ago to when the attitude toward service personnel was less convivial. Kansas University and Lawrence were hot spots for intolerance due to sentiment against the Vietnam War. There were strong protests against the Reserve Officer Training Corps on the campus, a military honor ceremony was disrupted and had to be re-arranged and there were incidents of vandalism to reflect resentment of the armed forces.

It did not register with the troublesome demonstrators that those in service were doing what the government had ordered them to do. When officialdom should have been the target, the service people got caught up in the confusion and emotion and too often were treated terribly.

Fortunately, in these times, the citizenry has been able to sort out the sources of their wartime resentments and take note of the gallant people who are doing their best, under often-horrible circumstances, to accomplish notable things.

All this is reflected in the changed attitudes at KU. There are numerous current examples of cooperation among military people and the university, and both benefit. Where ROTC programs were criticized and harassed and there were calls to get them off the campus and have study credits nullified around 1969, today those military agencies are operating in harmony with the academic system and ROTC enrollment is growing.

KU also is working with the armed forces in other training efforts. For example, there are KU ties to the Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. The university’s partnership with the fort covers a broad spectrum, from faculty teaching Special Forces to journalism students helping Army officers with mock press conferences, to wounded veterans of the wars in the Middle East pursuing degrees at KU.

The relationship is a good one. Those studying here in military garb are seldom criticized and often are favored with a “Thank you for your service” by students and townspeople. Such acceptance is deeply appreciated, those in uniform contend.

The Vietnam era was a prickly, emotional and damaging period to the nation and its people in many ways. One of the worst aspects was the bad treatment so many veterans got from a society that chose not to understand their contribution.

That’s gone now, and good riddance. The military-academic-general society relationship currently is better than it has been in a long time.