The Forgotten Casualties

Earlier this evening a good friend of mine posted a video of military personnel returning home to their families for surprise visits or coming home after their tour and I have to say that it moved me to tears and to remembering my own experience coming home from the Iraq war in 2003. We came in around 3am on a rainy morning and I will never forget the sight of my wife and my children running towards me or the sounds of my then 5 year old son yelling "daddy" at the top of his lungs and practically mowing me over as he ran up to hug me, I was hurt and I was tired but nothing could ever compare to the joy and the happiness that I felt at that time to come home to my family. My wife wasn't concerned with the injuries or with the illness that came with it, she was simply glad to have me home and I was glad to be home.

It was that night that I had my first nightmare. I won't go into gory detail about it except to say it was so real that when I awoke from the dream I had no idea where I was or how my wife had got there. I wasn't home, I was still in Iraq in my mind. I had gone from physical casualty to mental. The nightmares have eased up over time and the physical isn't so obvious anymore but still I and my family became casualties.

This video clip has reminded me of how much Afghanistan and Iraq have been in the news lately as our president decides that it's time to end things in Iraq and yet continue on in Afghanistan. It leads me to this question; have we forgotten the casualties of war?

American press ,as well as the BBC and others have made quite a big deal of the civilian casualties in both wars. They are quick to politicizes our conflicts and work very hard at painting a bad picture of our military. Every time there is a civilian injured or killed it is all over the news. Some in the press, as well as politicians, have tried to suggest that some of this has been done on purpose, painting those of us who have fought as if we relished the idea of killing simply for the sake of it, as if we purposely targeted civilians.

I am not here to defend our governments policies, I think that it is high time we called it quits and brought everyone home. Let the world sort through it's own messes, they don't want our help and I think we would be better off spending the war money on home projects and improving our economy, but I AM here to defend the troops that are quickly forgotten and their families.

As I said earlier, we focus a lot on the civilian casualties and we forget our own casualties here at home. In some ways it is understandable because unlike WW2 not everyone in this country is involved in this war,so for those who don't have a personal stake in any of it , it is easier to be critical and forget the real human cost for those that go to our wars and come home. I have heard many a speech from various politicians praising our troops over seas and the job that they are doing and yet I hear almost nothing about those of us who have come home, and those of us for whom this war has ended and yet we live with the consequences of it.

I grew up during the Vietnam war and I remember watching the news with my grandparents and I have never forgotten how those men and women were treated when they came home.Sadly we haven't learned a damn thing. If there is a photo op to be had, the so called "leaders" of our land will be there to show their support but after the cameras and the press are gone it is the veteran and his or her family that is left to pick up the pieces. I will be the first to say that these wars are wrong and should have never been fought, I will also admit that I think it's all about big business and to a certain degree empire building. Having said that though, I simply want people to remember that the average vet has done nothing more then serve their country, doing what they thought was right at the time to do. I can tell you for a fact that when the bullets are flying, you don't give a rats backside as to the politics involved. Your mind is on staying alive and keeping your buddies alive, politics and the politicians can go to hell because it has nothing to do with them when the proverbial doo-doo hits the fan.

Most of your young vets have various reasons for joining. Some have nothing else better to do, some are looking for money for college, some are simply hoping to learn a trade that can be used in the civilian world. Others like myself had a family to support. All of us were average people who simply were doing what we thought was the right thing to do,politics and big corporations never even crossed our collective minds.

I am all about freedom of speech and the press.If you are against the war or for it, have at it, speak your mind but remember the human cost. Remember that there are people out there who are now civilians that went to war for their country and did what they were asked to do. Remember that most of them have families and that those families suffer along with them as they try to go back to something of a normal life.

I am not asking you to ignore injustice. I am not asking you to ignore the truth and to do everything in your power to bring about an end to the wars. I am simply asking you to think about what you do or say and then remember that there are real people and families living in your communities that are casualties of this war and they need your support. Seek them out.Help them. Those that have sent them to war are ignoring them, and it would seem that most of America has forgotten.

End these wars, change the way the government conducts foreign affairs, but don't forget the Veterans who have fought these wars, many of them will be your best allies in preventing it from happening again.