Dignitaries and community members gathered Monday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl to celebrate Veterans Day.

The commander of Pacific Air Forces, Gen. Kevin Schneider, reflected on how despite no shortage of wars, the number of American veterans has declined significantly. He called upon those who do have military experience to be active community members and leaders.

“When I was forming my thoughts about what I was going to do with my life back in the early ’80s, about 18% of all U.S. adults counted themselves as military veterans,” Schneider said. “I could look up and down my street, and I grew up in Springfield, Va., and I could see military veterans and I could see those on active duty. They were easy to find. Today only 6% of our population counts themselves as military veterans.”

Schneider told veterans that “your example, your influence, the message that you carry, carries even greater importance now than at any other time. And at the same time this is going on, the challenges to our nation, to the Indo-Pacific region and the globe, have grown more dangerous, more volatile and more interconnected.”

Since the end of the Vietnam War, the United States has relied on an all-volunteer military to fight its wars. Some observers say that has led to a growing disconnect between the American public and those it sends to war. In the two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. troops have deployed to far-flung conflict zones including Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and other countries.

Though American troops left Afghanistan in a chaotic withdrawal in 2021, many of those other operations remain ongoing.

People from Pacific communities have disproportionately represented those who fought those wars. A study of 2003 recruiting data found that Pacific Islanders — which includes Native Hawaiians — joined the Army at a rate 249% higher than that of other ethnic groups and that American Samoa has consistently had among the highest enlistment rates of anywhere in the United States.

The Hawaii National Guard has seen near-­constant operations at home and abroad, with a group of guardsmen currently deployed to Africa in support of counterterror operations. Brig. Gen. Phillip Mallory, deputy adjutant general of the Hawaii National Guard, told attendees at the Punchbowl ceremony that “currently, there are Hawaii guardsmen deployed all around the world and throughout the Pacific, standing shoulder to shoulder with our active-duty counterparts.”

The Pentagon considers the Pacific to be its top-­priority theater of operations as regional tensions boil.

China has been clashing with neighboring countries, particularly the Philippines, over maritime navigation and territorial rights in the South China Sea — a critical waterway that more than a third of all international trade travels through. The Chinese military has built bases on disputed land formations and has attacked maritime workers from neighboring countries to assert its claims.

Russia also has increased the activity of its Pacific fleet since its forces unleashed a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including joint patrols with the Chinese navy around the Pacific.

Hostility between North and South Korea also has been rising, with unexpected global consequences. North Korea is one of the only countries to openly support the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has sent weapons and, more recently, troops to support Russian forces. South Korea, which has in the past sold weapons to Ukraine’s neighbor Poland, is now mulling directly providing weapons to Ukraine’s defending forces.

Last week Americans elected Donald Trump back to the presidency. Trump promised his supporters he would “quickly” end the war in Ukraine and vowed that he would maintain a policy of building a strong military while also avoiding getting involved in new wars, branding himself as a peace candidate.

On Monday, Trump selected U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, who served as an Army Green Beret, to be his national security adviser. Waltz has been hawkish on China and also has advocated for new military action in Latin America. In 2023, Waltz co-sponsored legislation that would have authorized the U.S. military to target Mexican drug cartels if it had passed.

Waltz said in a news release at the time, “It’s time to go on offense. … An (authorization for use of military force) would give the President sophisticated military (with) cyber, intelligence, and surveillance resources to disrupt cartel operations that are endangering Americans. The U.S. was successful in assisting the Colom- bian government dismantle cartels in the 1990s and must do the same now.”

Among the attendees at the Punchbowl ceremony was Allan Kellogg, a Marine Corps veteran and Medal of Honor recipient who served two tours of duty in Vietnam. He received the Medal of Honor, the highest honor an American service member can receive, for jumping on a grenade to protect his Marines during a mission in the jungles of Vietnam, seriously injuring him.

He said that on Veterans Day it’s important for people to both reflect on the wars of the past and to pay attention to what is happening in the present.

“You never know when things are going to change,” Kellogg said. “We got a new president now. You got all kinds of (stuff) going on with Korea; North Korea; China, of course, up on top; (and) Russia there on the lower part. You never know when the (situation) is going to change.”