Thank You For Your Service

Dear Mr. President,

“Thank you for your service.” An empty cynical phrase. Unsaid is, “You’re on your own now, pal. Good luck.” We train young men and women to be killers, send them off to war and if they return damaged by what they have done or what has been done to them, we make it difficult or impossible for them to get help. Today I received an email from a family member whose son was in the first contingent of Marines you sent to Afghanistan in your 2009 surge. He went with his bomb-sniffing dog and led patrols, hunting for IEDs and other explosive devices. His best friend was killed by an IED and he himself came back from Afghanistan with physical and moral injuries that remain, for the most part, untreated by the agency that is supposed to help veterans like him, the VA. He has struggled for 2 years to get treatment for his list of ailments resulting from his time in the Marine Corps: Traumatic Brain Injury, PTSD, degenerative spine disease, two types of lung disease, one untreatable, and constant knee pain from an injury suffered in boot camp. Among other after-effects of his time as an American Warrior is memory loss, migraines, tinnitus, depression and trouble with vision. Appointments are difficult to get and he is bounced from one doctor to another, each with differing and contradictory opinions and diagnoses. Recently, he was told his paperwork to receive disability was incorrectly done the first time, which sets his application back an entire year. This is the back side of war, Mr. President, the side hidden from the public and its toll is far greater than what we’ve been led to believe. More than 47,500 servicemen and women have come back wounded from these senseless, immoral and unjustified wars. Afghanistan is lost just as Iraq was, both based on lies and deceit. We have squandered blood and treasure and sacrificed men and women in pursuit of an illusion of empire. The War on Terror is a chimera, but since it is not politically expedient for you to admit it, you continue to sacrifice others in your quest for a second term. This damaged young man is your responsibility, Mr. President, a cynical sacrifice on the altar of the political gods, he is one of those you used, discarded and ignore along with all the other young men and women damaged by your ongoing evil wars. “Thank you for your service.” What hypocrisy. What repugnant, mindless self-delusion. The burden of war falls mostly on the children, Mr. President, but we are all its victims.