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Edited on Wed Dec-26-07 05:18 PM by NoSheep
Support the Troops? – Put Your Ranch Where Your Mouth Is
I am oddly relieved that I don’t see as many of the yellow magnetic “Support Our Troops” ribbons on cars these days. Every time I have seen one over these past six years of the Iraq war (a war many Americans knew was wrong from the start) I have been sent into a torrent of seething anger. This, because I have suspected that most who display them are making more of an “I SUPPORT THE WAR” statement than they are supporting the troops. I mean, really: How does that magnet “Support the Troops”? Wouldn’t wanting the war to end and working for it to end as soon as possible; to have it never begun in the first place; wouldn’t that be just the support our troops and their families really need? I admit I am totally cynical where this war is concerned. And I become ever more so each day as I listen to the news. Maybe others are waking up and changing their minds about the value of remaining in Iraq where reports are revealing a hell on Earth no one in their right mind would want to support. Maybe they are quietly removing their ribbons in favor of taking a more active role in helping the troops get home safely. Maybe now they are taking the time to learn more about the candidates they will soon vote for and admit the truth about the hubris and crimes of those they voted for in the past. Maybe they are writing to their representatives in congress. Perhaps they have become more wary of the language of the current administration which had earlier seduced them with words like homeland, patriot, freedom, WMD’s and mushroom cloud.
We’ve learned over these past six years that under the guise of freedom and democracy the Bush administration has ordered our armed forces to fight a war based on proven lies, not only for the profit of the war machine itself, but for control of a natural resource that could mean the destruction of the planet as we know it. As people are finally waking up to the fact that oil is an addictive poison, the use of which is a key cause of global warming that we are now rushing to find a cure for, perhaps they are asking themselves why it is we should really continue to want it so badly. So badly as to expect others to die for it as we blithely tool along in our gas guzzlers, complete with the largest yellow ribbon magnet we could find. It is ironic that such a perceived precious commodity is in such abundance under the ground of a people Americans have been conditioned to perceive as godless extremists bent on destroying Western civilization. Yes, it appears some folks’ concept of an omnipotent Christian God blessed the people of the Middle East with quite a bounty, albeit a dubious one.
The more than 3000 young men and women in our armed forces have given their lives for what? According to reports at the beginning of 2007, the government had then squandered more than 2 trillion dollars of working American’s tax dollars on a war... for what? It is no joke that Bush operatives in the government and in the media have insured that a large percentage of the American public still refuses to believe Iraq had NO involvement in the 911 attacks whatsoever; an event that most surely fixed the average American mentality on revenge at any cost. If you’re one of the folks who still believes the fairytale that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with it, you need to realize you are not only grossly and dangerously uninformed, but you would do well to look yourself in the mirror this instant and exclaim “I AM PART of the PROBLEM!!!” At least consider the troops. After all...it is Christmas.
Those fortunate enough to have been made it back home have found themselves stuck in a nightmare they cannot wake up from. The suicide rate among soldiers continues to rise. We hear about post traumatic stress syndrome more and more and how difficult it is for the returning soldier to get adequate treatment for their emotional disturbances as a result of enduring extended military duty in areas where the rule of the day for months and years on end is kill or be killed. Soldiers are being denied benefits and even kicked out of the military due to emotional problems. A good American gets hauled off to a living hell for a lie, and when it gets too much for him, he’s just booted out on his backside. Would you call THAT supporting the troops? What’s has the ubiquitous yellow magnet done today about THAT?
On December 20th 2007, I heard a story on NPR about Patrick Uloth; a soldier who had received an award for valor during his service in Iraq. When he sought mental health treatment for PTSD at Camp Pendleton, he learned he could not get therapy there due to a backlog of PTSD cases. He had recently been divorced and fired from his job and was renting a room in the house of a friend. He became so unwound by PTSD, caused by horrific experiences in Iraq that he had to be hospitalized elsewhere. It also seemed he was technically AWOL. When the military learned of his whereabouts, he was put in chains and hauled off to prison. He eventually received a “less than honorable discharge“. That’s code for “You will have no veteran’s benefits, my friend.” According to NPR’s website, as of December 26th 2007, The Marine Corps had not responded to repeated requests to talk about Uloth's case.
And he may be one of the lucky ones. I take it he still has his legs.
Another bitter irony of this conflict initiated by the party that loves to have you believe they are all about “Family Values” is the fact that the families of those who serve, their wives and husbands and children and mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters.... when their family member dies in Iraq, they are left widowed and fatherless and childless; their family torn apart. And if a soldier comes home alive, he often comes home to divorce and can turn to alcohol and drug abuse in an attempt to self medicate. If he or she has any veteran’s benefits at all, one may wait months to receive them. A lot can happen in a month or two or three or four: A drunken car crash, a suicide. “Home” can become a domestic battleground for these men and women who serve. Children can be abused. You know: “Family Values”.
A bit of good news was aired over the radio though. It was this news that prompted me to sit down and write this. It seems some people are stepping up and doing right by our veterans. One man, I believe I heard a veteran of Vietnam, has made his property available as a kind of campus for returning troops; a haven where they can be among others that understand their suffering and pain. They are helping each other adjust to being out of that constant harm’s way they’d become accustomed to. Are there enough among you who still display your yellow ribbon magnet willing to make this kind of sacrifice for those you have “supported” while they achieved this living hell? What’s your magnet going to do about THAT?
The whole idea of safe havens for returning soldiers is such a good one it made me ask myself what type facilities do we have in America that could possibly be outfitted to accommodate these torn men and women. It was then I thought of the most perfect contribution any self confessed “Troop Supporter” with "Family Values" could give to the cause: A certain ranch in Crawford, Texas.
NoSheep
Durham, NC
edited for sloppy errors in general
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