Until the last soldier dies

[SoCalDem]

Until the last soldier dies, the war is never over.

Old soldiers sit around in every bar & V.F.W. hall, all over the country, and "re-fight" their war. They share stories, because they share a bond that they have with no one else. It's "safe" to talk to each other about the war. They say that old soldiers never die, they just fade away..until the last one fades away, the war is still with us.

The question has been asked.."Why are we STILL bringing up Viet Nam?
Wars never really "end". The sights, sounds, smells, are tucked into the creases of the brains of the soldiers who "went there"..

They awaken, bathed in sweat, trembling at the dreams that haunt their sleep...when they CAN sleep.

Soldiers are all different, and yet they are all the same. They answered a call, willingly or not, but they went to battle as "ordinary" people, and came home changed for life.

It's no surprise that insomnia, depression, suicide, homelessness, alcoholism, and domestic abuse rates are higher in battle-tested soldiers. The "sanitized for their protection" stories that they tell their families are nowhere near the truth, and yet they lie...

Why do they lie? They lie because to tell the truth, would wound them further. They saw horrific sights, watched their friends die in agony, were wounded themselves, or killed innocents. These are hard truths to "own". The person who came back, is NOT the person who left, and it eats at them FOREVER.

Some soldiers can put those rocks in their pockets and go about daily life, but eventually they either have to shed that coat with the rocks in the pockets, or be dragged down under the weight of it.

Some warriors come home to parades, flags, kisses and welcoming open arms. Some just come home, and are expected to carry on where they left off. We ask a lot of them when they have no time to decompress. It is next to impossible to come home from a place where you have suffered through sleep deprivation, hunger, thirst, sorrow, fear,and anxiety for months on end, and all of a sudden, you are just Joe the hardware guy at Home Depot again.

Viet Nam soldiers were living proof of the schism in public opinion. They were asked/told to do the impossible, and were made to feel guilty when they could not succeed. No one wanted them to go, yet they went. They did what they had to do, to stay alive. The public HATED the war, and the toll it took on the country, but these were OUR sons, husbands, brothers, neighbors, classmates, so how could we be against THEM? The truth is this.. No one was against THEM, but they held onto the feelings of disapproval, as if they were deserved.

When the "facts" about a war are found solely in books, the war is over. When there are no living soldiers of a particular war, that war is over. Until the last soldier dies, that war is still with us.

The Viet Nam war will be with us for a long time, and the deeds or misdeeds of soldiers will always bubble to the surface. Those war wounds never heal.

[Erika]

1. I know

Bushco and the chickenhawks he surrounds himself will never know. They never paid the price nor did the suffering.
As with Cheney, this group admittedly had other priorities.

Thanks for the post even though the memories are not easy.

[Erika]

2. One More Note

It saddens me when young voters ask why they should care or be concerned with a war which took place before they were born. Very shallow.

[SoCalDem]

3. It might be before THEY were born, but

it determined the way their family developed.. Their uncles, grandparents, fathers, WERE involved, and it altered them as people..

NO ONE was neutral...It affected us all..and still does.

[SoCalDem]

4. one kick

:)

[annabanana]

5. This should be read

by anyone who askes you "Why does this matter, it was so long ago."

I think there is mathematical evidence of contiguous, infinite universes, wherein everything that ever happened, is always happening and will always happen. So even after the last soldier dies, the deed remains.