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The U.S. has been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and now soldiers are coming home without adequate supports. I’ve written on this topic before, and I do so here again because I cannot fathom how we allow this to happen. We make soldiers carry the body bags of their dead comrades, and then we make those returning home carry their own baggage of injuries to mind and body filled with unrelenting pain.Just over the past week or so I have read and seen numerous stories and events involving soldiers returning from overseas. For instance:• There are recent stories of how trained therapy dogs can provide enormous stability, comfort and hope to soldiers who return with PTSD.• In Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport, there are large advertisements spread out on walls announcing “support” for the troops and how people can get involved.• As I walk through other airports, there are small and large groups of people waiting outside the gates with balloons and oversized cards to welcome home soldiers.• First Lady Michelle Obama has launched various initiatives dealing with returning soldiers.And yet, amid these fine efforts, there are the unending nightmares of soldiers, many of whom have done multiple tours of duty, all in the name of our country and its ideals. When they return they are left to whither and suffer in isolation, alone.So many of our soldiers get the run-around when it comes to their health benefits and health services, which is enough to enrage anyone, but how about someone has been in the midst of war and is in urgent need of care and compassion? Many soldiers don’t receive mental health diagnoses for months; meanwhile, they’re left to be swallowed alive by their troubling flashbacks, depression, and other problems. Indeed, they are left at war within themselves – here at home.The effectiveness of the therapy dogs is now under-review amid grumblings the dogs are “costly” to train. But while we’re waiting for the results of yet another study, how much evidence do we need beyond what the Pentagon and others have already gathered to know there are real positive benefits at work here? And costly: are we really willing to put side-by-side the costs of conducting a war with the costs of training some dogs for returning soldiers? My arguments here are not about ideology or re-litigating whether we should have ever gone to war, but about the silly and shallow arguments and the smokescreens that are put forward not to care for our soldiers.Another example: When soldiers cannot penetrate VA services they are left to fend for themselves, after being trained in war to always support their unit. When they do get access, many don’t receive transportation from one health service to another, so they are left out in the cold, the wet, the wind, having to drag themselves to their next appointment. Just how much can it cost to make sure there are enough case workers who can cut through the red tape, find the right health care, and ensure soldiers can get to their appointments and with dignity?Then there are the rocky marital and family relationships many soldiers come home to. Is it asking too much to provide enough counselors to sort out their home-front, when these men and women went to the battle front for us?As I write this piece I feel myself getting angrier by the word. How can we ask someone to put their life on the line, in many cases to do multiple tours of duty, and to come home where we fail to act aggressively to support them – indeed, to act as aggressively as we did when sending them into battle in the first place?Isn’t it time we carried the burden for our troops? If not us, then who?
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneMar 25, 2012 | IbrahimThis was one of the most heart-warming reunions to wsnetis. Thank you to American Airlines and all who made this possible.We are "over-the-edge" dog lovers, MUTSS and all. OUR TROOPS and VETERANS DESERVE ANY AND ALLFORMS OF APPRECIATION, SUPPORT and HAPPINESSwe can provide for them. GOD BLESS THEM ALL! -
Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneMar 24, 2012 | ToyosiI'm writing from the States. I just wecthad the story on NBC Nightly News (U.S. national T.V. news) on the Nowzad dogs who were just flown to New York to reunite with their soldiers. I sobbed through the entire story that was the most WONDERFUL thing I have seen in a long time. I then went online and found the story there, wecthad it another 3 or 4 times, and, again, sobbed through the entire clip. I knew I had to investigate your group further. I've subscribed to your mailing list and am looking for the proper place in this website to make a donation to the Nowzad dogs. BLESS YOU for this incredible humane undertaking!!
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneFeb 22, 2012 | keith kelleythank you...thank you
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneFeb 22, 2012 | JackThanks Rich. Many of us have been "fighting this battle alone"since the Korean conflict.
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneFeb 22, 2012 | Michelle Still MehtaDear Rich,\r\nThank you for raising a very important issue. As a military family member living overseas I am often struck by the disconnect between the current popular discourse about \"supporting our troops\" or \"joining forces\" and the reality that we are often very isolated from the outside world as a military community. I think the reasons for this are multiple and complex, but one result of this is that the \"thank you\'s\" and calls for support ring a little hollow to me. I really think this one area where we as a broader community could really use your concepts of conversation to better understand what\'s going on here. In the meantime, thank you for naming part of the problem.\r\n\r\nWarm regards, Michelle
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneFeb 21, 2012 | Barbara BrownYet some of us do so much with so little to help. Land-grant Universities have Operation Military Kids programs that provide reintegration programs for military families - and much more. See: www.operationmilitarykids.org. You can help these programs. In SC we host Military Family Resiliency Retreats. We can host 25 families for $6,000 for a Beach or a Mountain retreat inclusive of family bonding, life skills for kids, stress reduction and couping skills for all. Check out the website, click on the state you want to help at the state information link. Forgive my marketing, but it is for the soldiers and their families you are talking about. They don't have to be alone.
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneFeb 21, 2012 | MargaretI'm getting a little weary of people in Congress who want to wave the flag and talk about our dedication to our service people, but they don't seem to pay much attention to what actually happens to these people when they return from duty. This disturbs me a lot. I think we need to ask them what specifically they are doing to help with these adjustments to life after the tours of duty.
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneFeb 21, 2012 | richard pufferI try often to remind patriots that the support of the troops is not only when they are in the field. Every Vet may not need the help. Every Vet may not ask for the help but the infrastructure and support should be in place for who have answered the call. Saying "I support the troops" is not enough -- at a minimum we have to be willing to pay the tax to support the continuing effort that will be needed by many for decades. We can't just say Thank YOU, we have to show thank you. So, Rich, thanks for being a voice to keep this discussion flowing. In our country we do have a history of forgetting veterans as soon as the war is over. For many,however, the war does not end.
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Re: Forcing U.S. soldiers to fight the last battle aloneFeb 21, 2012 | Deanna DemoryRich you hit the nail on the head! All one has to do is observe and listen, and you will see what a shame we have let this happen to those who serve our country. In Michigan, for instance, it takes 18 months to a year to get VA approval for military benefit forms that pay for counseling. In that amount of time, we lose some good men and women who decide instead to take their own lives. It's a moral shame upon our country and a moral indignity upon these fine young men and women. It is imperative that we start supporting our veterans with better and more timely care!!