An Associated Press article on Yahoo today unfortunately validated predictions I've made over the past few years.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
Blogging about the PTSD tragedies our country faces because of the horror our brave young troops have seen and experienced during the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfield war in Iraq has been painful for me. My experiences as a corpsman in Vietnam left me with psychological scars that are still with me after more than 40 years. I'm afraid the article above proves that many, many of our returning veterans will have scars which remain with them for the rest of their lives.
Everyone who has followed my blog for these past years knows my view of the Bush administration and the damage they inflicted on our great country. Nothing can change that now. The only thing left to do is deal with the consequences of their incompetence and immorality. History will remember this group as the worst executive branch our country ever produced.
Responsibility for the 4,328 Americans who have died in Iraq lies directly on the
Bush/Cheney/Rumsfield/Rice cabal who took our country into that unnecessary conflict.
Responsibility for every veteran who returns to kill, injure and terrorize their countrymen will also fall to those who sent them into that conflict.
The horrors the Yahoo/AP article describes is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be hundreds if not thousands of these acts repeated over the next four or five decades. Those statistics will become footnotes to the history of a war which should have NEVER happened!
And those body counts won't include the THOUSANDS of Iraq veterans who will commit suicide, fall into drug or alcohol abuse and a myriad other tragic consequences of their service to our country.
As the article describes these veterans are returning to the same bureaucratic nightmare we did. Attempts to improve the VA and military response and treatment of PTSD is improving. But at a pace which would make a snail appear speedy. Not only that, the stigma which causes these brave veterans to feel that seeking treatment somehow makes them appear "weak" or "cowardly" or less "macho" is reinforced by the very people who should be supporting them.
One of the greatest evils of the Bush administration and the Republican machine during their reign was to brand Democrats as unpatriotic if they disagreed with Iraq policy. Well, it's time to pay the piper and the blame lies not only with the "Bush Crowd," but with the Democrats who didn't have the courage to stand up to them.
To all Iraq veterans who read this, know that you have people out here who care about what's happened to you. Know that there are others who KNOW the pain, anger and turmoil you are suffering. Get to a Vet Center and talk to another veteran. If you don't find the right person to talk to, go to another. Don't stop until SOMEONE listens! If you want to talk to me, leave a comment and we will figure a way to communicate. I will listen and help you find that RIGHT person to talk to wherever you are.
DON'T think you are alone. I know that tendency because I did it for 40 years. Now I'm finally getting some treatment. I know the struggle you are having with yourself. I know some of the thoughts because I've had them too. There are MANY of us who served in Vietnam who have fought for veteran's rights. We care.
Don't look back in 30 or 40 years like I do at a life filled with regrets directly caused by PTSD.
For others who read this who know a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, listen to them. Try to get them to talk to you. Think before you ask a stupid question like: "Did you kill anybody?"
For everyone: CARE, HELP, LISTEN.
Thank you.