Wounds of War (revised)
In Honor of our Veterans, so that you know all they go through for freedom.
When I heard the news of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, I was stunned and a little numb. I could neither celebrate or cry. I didn’t know exactly what to do or how to feel. For some it brought closure for 9/11. But it certainly won’t end the war on terrorism. For me it brought fear. Now it would only be a matter of time before retaliation begins. They hurt us, we hurt them, then they hurt us, so we hurt them. When will it all end? My heart is heavy with the news of all this suffering. Did you find yourself thinking the same thing? If so, take a few minutes and read the articles I have collected below about the realities of war.
The first two article’s are from a blog, Living Lutheran. On celebrating the death of our enemy and Why I will not Celebrate the Death of Bin Laden, two articles, one referenced within another. Two opinions represented very well. These articles really got me to thinking. They focus on the deeper issues, the ones you don’t hear in the nightly news. I found myself reading and pondering them continuously thru the past few weeks.
Here is a story posted in Brainline, an article that really ripped at my heart-strings. It’s about a young teacher, married to a soldier, she’s pregnant
with their first child and she is suddenly thrust into quitting her job and caring for her husband when he is severely disabled by a Traumatic Brain Injury.
Here is her story; Military families are thrust into caregiving roles for severely injured troops. A story that hits close to home, one I related to all to well, I am a TBI survivor myself. After reading her story it struck me that her struggle didn’t end when Osama was shot to death. It still goes on. It won’t go away.
A RAND Corporation study Invisible Wounds of War states that there are 400,000 total brain injuries sustained by soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Did you get that? 400,000 Total Brain Injuries to date and more every day. That is a lot of injured soldiers. The problem with that huge number is found in the title of the study, Invisible Wounds of War, many TBI’s go undetected. That means there are soldiers not getting the treatment they so desperately need. My own TBI was not diagnosed for 7 years, and that untreated, almost cost me my life. That leaves me wondering what the real total is and wishing I could magically find those soldiers and help them. What about other injuries, what and how many are they? I hope you are ready to help our soldiers. They’re our sons, daughters, dads, mothers, sisters, brothers, neighbors, friends, and relatives. You don’t have to look far to find an injured vet in your community. Find one and ask them to tell you their story. Find out how to be a voice for our soldiers and see how you can help. Sadly, they are not getting the help they need from our government when they return from serving. So if we don’t help them, who will?
Just recently, in the past few months, the rules changed and soldiers can now receive a Purple Heart for a Traumatic Brain Injury. Really? When did we
become selective about which war injury could receive acknowledgement? Read Brain Wars: How the Military is Failing its Wounded to see for yourself.
The effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, on our soldiers has been and will be a huge issue to deal with. Learn more here in a story about an upstanding citizen, policeman, husband, who joins the service and upon returning home realizes he will never be the same and who finds himself divorced, friendless and in prison due to his untreated TBI and PTSD. Or find out more about other soldiers and their families dealing with the same thing in this two-part series called Coming Home (Part 1) and Coming Home (Part 2).
Another fact that left me speechless. Between 23-40% of our homeless are Vets and that number is on the rise. That means that out of all our homeless persons, almost half of them are Veterans. I am still in shock over this one.
So I got curious about how many have died for my freedom. I found those numbers here.
Just to be fair I also googled “the benefits of war” You may want to also.
After reading all of this, I now know exactly how to feel when I hear of Osama Bin Laden’s death. I feel that when I hear of death and suffering, no matter who it is, I don’t like it. I feel that I can’t ask a soldier or their family to endure hardships for my freedom. I feel for the soldier who returns home feeling lost, deserted and confused. I feel for the people injured by war. I feel for the people who call home the countries where wars are being fought. I feel that one wrongful death being avenged by another wrongful death, is not ok. I feel that the suffering should stop. I feel that war is not the answer and we must find a different way. I don’t know to fix this or what the answer is, but I do know that 400,000 Total Brain Injuries, plus more everyday on top of all the other injuries is way too many injured people. They will all come home and we will be left with the aftermath of the wounds of war. It won’t go away even after the war is over. These injured soldiers will live among us. So that leads me to wonder, who really wins?
Just wanted to add some new information. Just recieved this article. This information has never been released correctly until now. It speaks for itself. Troubled Veterans and early deaths after Iraq.
our headbangers ball 