My brother's brother-in-law, and best friend, began suffering from agent orange when he was in his 30s after driving truck in Vietnam for a year, delivering agent orange as many shipments. It took over 15 years before the government accepted responsibility and even then, wanted to do so in a limited capacity, including refusing him VA disability saying his problems weren't related to service.
He's still alive, 79, and is on the verge of being in a nursing home with hospice care. He's at home but family can't keep up with it. Even now, the government limits his in-home help to a few paltry hours a week. It's the system, and how it works. When we serve in harm's way, we're lauded as the heroes of America. When we come home, we become a drain on society if we have been damaged by war. I've known way too many casualties of Vietnam and other situations that have been treated unfairly.
I mentioned a friend out here some time ago, that I worked with as a cop, who was part of the clean-up crew for the crashed B-52 up in Iceland in the 60s. They gave them clothing they said would protect them, but it didn't. Airmen who worked on cleaning up the site were dying due to cancers that were created by the work they did. My friend was one of a handful who decided to take it to the courts in a class action suit. They won the case but the government pretty much dumped them anyway, and they all died from their cancers.
I remember my father-in-law. He served during WWII. He won 3 bronze stars and had 3 matching purple hearts. He was there in Africa, was there in the invasion of Italy, and again, when we stormed the beaches of Omaha, and he was one of the first soldiers to cross the Rhein River into Germany. He came home broken from the war and never actually totally recovered. You were considered weak if you didn't tough it out in those days. He would get quiet and moody quite a bit. He didn't even want to go anywhere for visits. He wouldn't and couldn't talk to anyone until I married his daughter and he found someone who'd been down a similar path he could talk to. It wasn't easy. He suffered more than I think I could have endured. But at least he had someone who listened to him when nobody else seemed to know how.
I can give you more "war stories" about what happens to some personnel after they are no longer in the military. Maybe about those that I knew who took their own lives, or those who ended up on the streets homeless, until they succumbed to weather or health conditions that should have been cared for by the military.
It's true that war is hell, but in all honesty, to a lot of veterans who make it home and suffer from so many conditions created by their being in harm's way can be even more devastating in many ways.
I'm proud of my son who stepped up and served in Afghanistan. It's something he wanted to do because he lost friends at the WTC when it was attacked. He served for them because it was the Taliban in Afghanistan that needed to be stopped. He came home damaged through injury, and mentally. He never had anger issues until he served there but he did for a few years after coming home. He also lost a large percentage of his hearing from artillery fire, blew out a knee completely, and got a back injury carrying a wounded soldier about 2 miles on his back to an evacuation chopper, over rocky and uneven ground. He applied for VA assistance and ended up getting pretty much nothing but a "thanks for service." Since then, he has gone up to 40% disability and has benefit of VA hospitals and medical services.
So, if I don't sound much like a hawk when it comes to us going to war, I'm not. I would defend my country to the max, and I would defend democracy to the max as well, but I would never go to war or want any of my children or grandchildren or friends families to go to war unless there's a reason so compelling that it requires that we stand up and be counted.
When I see the news talking about how Iran has cost us $50 billion, I look past that and see the lives we've lost and those we've taken. I see the lives the Israelis have lost and those that were innocents that died. I see the school in Iran that was accidentally hit and over 150 school children killed. I see war with the view that in the end, nobody wins.
Sorry if this sounds like a lecture, that's not the intent. I'm just pointing out how I see it based on my experience, and that of others I know and have known.
