I just wanted to say "Thank you"

[Solly Mack]

A few days ago I wrote the following in response to a thread started by babylonsister http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=237561#237775">here.



"I look around my military community sometimes and I see a bunch of people my government considers expendable.

Oh, they'll make flowery speeches about heroes and sacrifice but only after the fact - after someone has lost an arm or a leg or their life.


Sometimes I think my government would be happier if there were no wounded, no forever maimed ...just deaths. The wounded are hard to hide...the dead go into the ground...all too often to be forgotten by a nation in the frenzy business of "moving on" and "healing" to prove the nation is somehow "stronger" for its adversity.

The wounded are constant reminders - the dead can't tell you their stories. People can use the dead a lot easier than they can the wounded. You can claim the dead said anything and they can't say otherwise...so you can make the dead into anything you want them to be to fit whatever agenda you have....can't do that with the wounded.

Sure, there will be a monument people can go to and feel good about themselves for the doing....but the majority will go back home and forget.

These are some of the thoughts I have from time to time."


DU has been a tremendous help over the years for those of us who are military or have loved ones serving in the military. As great as you all have been, sometimes we still feel alone. We still feel isolated. One of the reasons is because at the end of the day, we what we go through in our heads and our hearts we go through alone. Can't be helped. That's just how it is.

It's not anything that is easily put into words - it's grief and anger and fear all woven into one, creating a ball of pain inside your chest so great in size, the pressure feels as if you're drowning - nothing to grasp onto and no air to be found - you can't even scream - just floudering about, waiting for it to end.

And even that doesn't describe the feeling.


Even with all the love and support found here on DU, sometimes, we still feel so alone. We still feel over-looked by government and our neighbors. We still feel forgotten.



Another time in another war people assumed, quite naturally, that government and military support structures were in place to deal with the wounded and the maimed - only to learn later that that wasn't quite the truth.

My biggest fear has been that,once again,government would ignore the needs of the troops of an unpopular war.

A lot of Vietnam vets suffered greatly because of this.


Today though, and last night, the outrage over how the troops are being warehoused away has given me some hope that this will not be like the end of Vietnam, when government neglected the troops.

And it will be because of people like you.

Thank you.

[Skidmore]

1. Solly, that's what family is for....

and I see DU as extended family. We may squabble at times, but we step up when one of us is hurting or needs something.

Hang in there, sister.

:hug:

[Solly Mack]

2. (((Skidmore)))

:hug: just a little more

[blm]

25. Exactly how I feel -

.

[Solly Mack]

34. (((blm)))

[raccoon]

3. Well said, especially these two paragraphs!

"Sometimes I think my government would be happier if there were no wounded, no forever maimed ...just deaths. The wounded are hard to hide...the dead go into the ground...all too often to be forgotten by a nation in the frenzy business of "moving on" and "healing" to prove the nation is somehow "stronger" for its adversity.

The wounded are constant reminders - the dead can't tell you their stories. People can use the dead a lot easier than they can the wounded. You can claim the dead said anything and they can't say otherwise...so you can make the dead into anything you want them to be to fit whatever agenda you have....can't do that with the wounded."

K&R.

[Solly Mack]

7. Thank you,raccoon

for hearing me ....

[madokie]

4. It makes me so sad to read these words, to know its all true

Thank you for what you're doing for our kids there.

spelchk

[Solly Mack]

9. Oh no..I don't do enough. It's never enough

There are just so many in need..and the number keeps growing with no end in sight.

(((madokie))

[mmonk]

5. Well said.

:thumbsup:

[Solly Mack]

11. Thanks, mmonk

:hi:

[mmonk]

19. .

:hi:

[redwitch]

6. I think the American people will come through for our vets.

:hug:

[Solly Mack]

10. (((redwitch)))

I hope so

[Straight Shooter]

8. When I read about Walter Reed, it reminded me of "Born on the 4th of July."

That scene where Kovic (played by Cruise) is in the hospital, some squalid room where the Vietnam wounded are relegated. Kovic is hanging over the edge of the bed, vomiting and calling for help. I remember thinking, "What the hell!!!??!!"

Now here it is, what, eight billion dollars a month spent on Iraq, and yet our troops are being treated like something you scrape off your shoe. Seriously, WTF is wrong with the bush administration? WTF is wrong with the GOP that would support their party leaders who do nothing about this? WTF is wrong with the press that it's taken a Democratic Congress in place before they started revealing this to the public?

When the GOP thought of "Support The Troops" as a rhetorical slogan, it was just another instance of all light, no heat. :(

Hey, Solly, as an Army Brat, I hear you, loud and clear. :hug:

[Solly Mack]

12. Thanks, Straight Shooter

:hug:

The government and the media help to promote an image of parades, heros ,and flag waving...the trappings of ceremony...as what war is...

and then the reality of war comes creeping in...and too many cling even tighter to the trappings

We've got to strip them of their trappings...

[Straight Shooter]

31. The images of parades, heros, and flags waving ...

Reminds me of the scene where the gunshot goes off and the old veteran in the car has a startle response, which Kovic has the same response later in the movie when he's the one riding in the seat of honor.

Today's right-wing keyboard patriots would do well to heed the words of William Tecumseh Sherman:

"I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded, who cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.

There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell. You can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come. I look upon war with horror."

[bigtree]

13. our movement started with our soldiers at the front of our advocacy

our soldiers

[Solly Mack]

16. Yes, they are "our" soldiers

they just don't always get treated that way...and that's the problem

[bigtree]

22. VA hospitals closing/closed

unbelievable

[Solly Mack]

24. Yes! A HUGE part of the problem

Thank you for bringing that up

[babylonsister]

14. And thank you, my friend, for being a closer voice for all the

soldiers in need than we could ever think to be. You are my conscience in getting the truth out.

[Solly Mack]

17. (((babylonsister)))

[mnhtnbb]

15. Obama says this country has an empathy deficit. That's what you're

describing, Solly. We have to do better. We must.

[Solly Mack]

18. It really is a lack of empathy

and then there is outrage overload - there is just so much to be outraged about these days.

We can do better.

((mnhtnbb))


I get so angry at times, so disgusted. In my anger - which stems from my fear - I lash out. I lash out at soldiers around me as well, that still need to believe in what they're doing -otherwise, nothing makes sense to them - and that's a cold reality to face...but believing your government shouldn't mean a death sentence. It shouldn't mean being maimed and uncared for...

I'm rambling..

[Karenina]

21. Ramble all you want.

:hug::loveya::hug:

[Solly Mack]

26. ((((Karenina)))))

:loveya:

[mnhtnbb]

23. You're not alone in being outraged. And I think the empathy

deficit helps to explain why there isn't more outrage. Some people are character disordered--which is how I look at people who lack empathy.
They just can't imagine themselves--or their loved ones--in need.

[Solly Mack]

27. my husband said the article was the talk

at work today

about how money has been diverted from medical needs that were especially earmarked for medical needs but still got diverted to "star wars" and such

how, at least 3 times, money was slotted for medical needs and upkeep of the troops...but that the money just never materialized.

Soldiers are talking about the article...

[bobbolink]

46. See what that reporter did...

pissed on the morale of the troops...

:mad:

In their talk, what are they able to do with it?

I guess I'm worried that they will have their blood pressure rise, and can't do much.

Keep us up to date with this, 'K?

:hug:

[porphyrian]

20. I'll kick that. - n/t

[Cerridwen]

28. "The casualty rate in any war is 100%"

I'm not sure who said that, my s.o. reminded me of it the other day. I think, it's 100% of those who go PLUS 100% of those who stay behind and their communities - in other words, 100% PLUS.

How can anyone go into a war and not be effected? And if they're not effected, I'd argue they were 'broken' before they went. Even if they are 'fortunate' enough to return with no obvious physical injuries, what happens to the person they once were? That's got to effect their families, their co-workers, the people in the community with whom they come into contact. They don't exist and suffer in a vacuum - as much as some politicians might like to think.

How can anyone seriously say we need to "fight them over there" as though what happens "over there" stays "over there." As though we who are here are in some hermetically sealed bubble safe from the effects of war.

Please, do not think I'm trying to take away anything from the troops who ARE on the front lines. No way, no how, would I do that. Now I would like to see our 'leaders' in their hermetically sealed bubbles realize the costs of war in something other than dollar signs and profit margins.

Solly, I don't know if I can convey how much I want us to have in place, a system to heal ALL our wounded troops, their families and the families of those who don't return, and their communities.

[Solly Mack]

29. I think you said it wonderfully

[roguevalley]

30. Despair just never seems to end but when Cindy and Jack Murtha

stepped up, the tide turned. It will always turn. It will never be fast enough but it will change. I hug you back.

[calimary]

32. Hell, YES, I'm sure I want to recommend this thread!

Thank you, back, Solly Mack. Thank you for keeping the vigil, for enduring the pain, and for cluing the rest of us in who otherwise would have little inkling of what it's like for those who "also serve, who only stand and wait."

I was so pissed off about this that I literally couldn't sleep through the night. At 3:30am, here I was, furiously pounding away at the keyboard, posting my head off, venting and ranting and exhorting people to call their reps and raise Holy Hell. I still can't believe how those who'd bray loudest about how WE don't support the troops because we want the war ended and all our beloved ones BACK HOME AND OUT OF HARM'S WAY! They're the same ones who've turned a blind eye to all of this when they had the power and they ran both houses of Congress and they had subpoena power and the authority to look into shit like this and make a big stink about it. Hell, as republi-CONS, they even were far more likely to have bush's ear - on ANYTHING regarding Iraq - even the alleged "nobodies" who sacrificed life and limb and now have the "nerve" to come home and need intensive treatment and rehab! It just makes me wanna spit fire. HOW FRICKIN' DARE THEY??!?!?

ANYTHING I can do to put a kink in their wires, sugar in their engines, and a monkeywrench in their gears, I am determined to do. None of them better prance around in front of me with their more-patriotic-than-thou attitudes!!!

I'm an absolute civilian. I freely admit I never served. Even so, I know enough about this war and the motivations of the people who pressed for it and keep on enabling it and making excuses for it to try to keep as many others out of it as possible. And for those who served anyway, I think it's utterly ESSENTIAL to make sure they're not only fully-equipped for battle, but showered with the most lavishly best care and treatment money can buy. Instead of lining the pockets of Halliburton (shouldn't that be HELL-iburton?) and the other defense contractors and war profiteers, and scratching our heads about where all those multiple BILLIONS of tax dollars disappeared to, THAT'S where all the big money should go.

THIS is a war WELL-worth fighting, if you ask me.

We love you, Solly Mack, and we're not going to give up, OR stop fighting, until we get this war ENDED. And NO OTHERS STARTED. And our vets properly and FULLY treated, cared for, supported, funded, and honored.

[Solly Mack]

33. Wow! I could feel your energy while reading that

((((calimary)))
:loveya:

and Thank you!!!

[bobbolink]

35. It always helps to feel supported, and know that others care.

I'm glad you are now enjoying that support!

I certainly know what it's like to feel isolated, and I can certainly imagine those times that are really hard for you.

:hug:

[Solly Mack]

38. ((bobbolink))

Thanks!

[Cabcere]

36. Beautifully written...thank you for expressing this.

:hug: I'm kind of at a loss for words right now - still dealing with the death of my friend in Iraq, and threads like this really bring home the full extent of such loss, by reminding me that it's not just the friends and families of the dead who suffer. So, thank you. I am with you, and I hope we can get through this...preferably sooner rather than later. Thanks again. :hug: K&R.

[Solly Mack]

39. Lots of warm vibes coming your way, Cabcere

and lots of this :hug:

[Cabcere]

41. Thanks, love

Same to you. :hug:

[frogcycle]

42. my condolences for the loss of your friend

I hope I was able to find appropriate links and picture(s) for my website. If not, I would be honored to add any links you may choose to send me.

Fallen

[TahitiNut]

37. "We still feel isolated."

Yep. That's the strange thing about relationships between Viet Nam veterans. Any time I've been with another vet, it's like we're together in our aloneness ... a VERY Yin/Yang thing. It's really never been a matter of "understanding" the very individual experience. We swap sketchy references - events. We pad the talk with silences, seeing more by looking at each other than by saying anything. I get some of the same feeling when I go to the VFW on Friday nights for the fish fry. There's more in just looking at each other in the eyes than in saying much.

When I was first learning to dive, one of my dive instructors was another Viet Nam vet also called Mike. He did some of his tour in Cambodia. He was special ops. (That's where he learned scuba diving. It showed.) When we were 60' underwater, we 'communicated' more than some husbands and wives do over a breakfast table. I think maybe we trusted each other more, too. It something about the wavelength, maybe. But it's always about that feeling of isolation. I don't think it'll ever go away.

[Solly Mack]

40. I see that silent communication a lot between my husband and others who served

in Iraq...and I feel that silent communication with other spouses.

No words needed - you just know...you just understand.

Big hugs, TN!
:hug:

[frogcycle]

43. Solly, there are many of us who wish fervently we could make this not so

I visited Twentynine Palms a few months ago, where I lived for several years in the fifties as a "service brat". The degree to which that little town shows love for all its marines was palpable. Oh, sure, cynics would say towns near bases just like the soldiers' or marines' money, and of course their economy is impacted, but there was much more there. I hated to leave that town and return to suburban Chicago, where there is no day-to-day evidence of what so many families are going through on our behalf. And make no mistake about it, regardless of our opinion of whether the war is justified, or being conducted correctly, we still KNOW that those who serve, and their families, do so on our behalf.

I drove back and forth, stopped and walked up and down, along the fence by the main gate, looking at all the posters welcoming home the unit who had just returned the week before. I felt like I got to know some of the people, just from the sentiments on the signs.

One particularly stuck in my mind:



So please know that millions of Americans really do care, and struggle to find ways to help. I consider "Lil Bun-Bun" to be an adoptive granddaughter, and don't want her daddy to have to go back. And I want her daddy to be the same daddy who left a year ago.

[nam78_two]

44. K&R

I used to volunteer for a homeless shelter and in my estimation about 20% of the people there were disabled veterans :(-mostly Vietnam, but ione (or maybe two I think) even from the last Gulf War. This administration in particular has been going after Veteran's benefits from almost the get-go....assholes :grr:

[ninkasi]

45. Solly, my younger son and I were discussing

the abysmal treatment of our troops and veterans earlier today. We are both astounded that the administration which has shamelessly whipped up nationalistic fervor in order to wage a war of choice, is so often left completely off the hook for the shameful treatment that those who served have gotten. So many of the troops are just kids, and while I completely recognize that in many cases their desire to serve their country comes from a sense of patriotism, in too many cases, it comes from having limited choices. Their parents are not wealthy. They are trying to better their lives, while serving their country.

I can think of no other war the country has been involved in which has so heartlessly abused and exhausted our brave troops. I asked a friend today, one who is not particularly politically aware, but who does watch CNN and FAUX, if she had seen anything about the Washington Post's expose on Walter Reed, and she was completely unaware of the reality of how our vets are treated. She expressed shock, and a bit of doubt. After all, she reasoned, if this were the case, why hasn't she heard about it? I did my best to educate her.

Massive tax cuts for billionaires, pennies pinched for our troops. Lucrative no-bid contracts for cronies, our troops subjected to sub-standard treatment while actively serving, and neglect and abuse after they are wounded. While this abuse of our troops continues, America is a joke, falsely claiming goodness, while condoning and facilitating greed at the expense of those who permit their abusers to practice their robber baron economics on the rest of the world.