Til the last shot's fired

Trace Adkins performance with the USMA Glee Club, introduced by a true hero, 1LT Andrew Kinnard '06

1LT Andrew Kinnard said "It's not about the war. It's about the warrior." and this came from him, sitting in a wheel chair after he lost both of his legs. He knows what he's talking about.

Trace Adkins' song is about some of the wars America has fought. If you go back in history, every civilization has had wars for one reason or another. Sometimes they were waged over religious disputes, jealousy and out right greed. Other times it was for defense of their own nation or a weaker nation being invaded by a stronger one. No matter who makes the decisions or why they do, it is the men and women willing to serve their nation paying the price in body and soul.

Say what you will about Iraq but understand the troops did not get to decide if they would fight it or not. They only got to decide if they were willing to serve this nation or not. This is what we all have to remember. Thankfully the days of Vietnam veterans coming home scorned taught us a lesson on not taking out our personal views on them. We still have a lot to make up for when it comes to the Vietnam veterans, but more, we ignore what they did when they came home despite the way they were treated.

Vietnam veterans went to war with the government for all generations of warriors, determined to never let one generation become forgotten and left behind. While the wound of PTSD had existed since the beginning of recorded history under different labels, it took the Vietnam veterans efforts to have PTSD recognized as a wound born of battle. As bad as things are for our newer generation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, imagine what it would be like had they done nothing about the wounds they carried home over thirty years ago. While there is still so much more that needs to be done, all the advances in treatment and compensation would not have been established had it not been for their efforts.

The stigma of PTSD began to erode when they began to understand it is a wound of war. They began to talk about it, establish support groups for the veterans and their families, push for Veterans centers separated from the established hospitals and clinics. They took over the established veterans organizations and used the power of their numbers to cause changes in the system at the same time they were suffering within the system. When they could not get an accounting of their POW-MIA's they pushed for it even though all other wars left behind many more missing in action. When they came home with the illnesses caused by the spraying of Agent Orange, they fought to have testing established and compensation for the illness they carried within them as well as transferring to their own children. To this day the VA is still linking more and more illnesses associated to Agent Orange.

The last shot has not been fired in Iraq or Afghanistan but it has not been fired with Vietnam veterans either. They are still fighting. Still fighting to have their wounds treated and compensated for. More, they are still fighting for every generation of veterans that came before them and who will come after them.

They still hear the echoes from their time in Vietnam and the spirits of all veterans passed away on foreign lands. They are joined in spirit with all warriors from every generation defending what they loved with everything they had to give but as we line streets for parades to honor them, we continue to dishonor their legacy when we do not take care of the wounded warriors with as much urgency as we had when we sent them to risk their lives, with unlimited funding we had when the war was being planned equally matched when it came to the wounded created by it and with the notion of patriotism we had when we waved the flags to send them away but walked away when they returned in need of us.