Friday, March 02, 2007

Bad news

What a rough week for military news. Walter Reed. Senior level officers firings. Homeless vets. Legless vets on the cover of Newsweek. And the sad thing is that it took the Post and MSNBC to get something done - well, at least put a bandaid on it and make some heads roll.

It's truly daunting to think of the cost of war. Not only do we lose some of the best youth America has to death, but there are lifetimes of medical support needed for the physically and mentally wounded.

I keep thinking that one day, when Iraq is in the history books to be read by children yet to be conceived, will people still care, or will those names be like the ones etched in the Vietnam wall, touched by strangers curious about the past, and aging spouses, and grown children? I believe that this war has changed how American treats its military. I know of few people (including military) who want us to stay in Iraq much longer, but everyone wants to support the troops, even if they don't know how to do that.

I work for little pay for a place that supports them :) that's my contribution, but yours could be as easy as writing a letter. Yup. Everytime you think of it, every time there's an appropriations bill that will help military families, like more monthly cash for separation pay, or ending the "widow's tax" send your rep an email. When they get enough of them, they just might listen.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

From an Iraq Military widow, thank you.

Muriel said...

You have said it well. How sad it is to see high officials too busy to cover up their track to take care of soldiers, who gave it all. On the other hand I am glad that the governement is not trying to cover this up but firing people, who are responsible.

kbug said...

Anything we can do for our troops is near and dear to my heart...but I'm prejudiced. I have two sons in the military...one of whom may be headed back to Iraq again this year.

A military blogger wrote something the other day that broke my heart, but rang true. He said, "We are a military at war, not a nation at war." He went on to say that until the entire nation got behind the troops and supported their efforts, we would remain that way. There are so many people completely disconnected from what's going on overseas and could care less unless it effects their taxes...and that's really sad.