Here's to the Heroes: A Military Tribute

luckylucie
August 09, 2007

This is dedicated to all the men and women who continue to fight for our freedoms. Thank you!!!

I was sent a link to this video and must say it left me a bit weepy. This is one message I really wish all of our men and women serving today and those who served before, would totally understand.

When you call them heroes, they will tell you "I'm just doing my job." and then humbly walk away or change the subject. They don't see themselves as heroes. Considering what they go through in times of war, it weighs heavily on their hearts. It leaves them torn between the lives they saved and the memories of the lives they had to take.

We have friends with all kinds of medals honoring their service to this nation during Vietnam. Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, a Medal of Honor, several Purple Hearts, and every single one of them are about as down to earth as everyone else. They don't do it for rewards, or medals, they did it for their brothers. When you look up the records on many of these men, you will find many drafted into the military. It didn't matter how they got there, once there, they were putting their lives on the line and doing whatever it took to take care of each other. The truly magnificent thing is, even now, they still do it. They still put others first.

We see this when the Vietnam veterans manage to do whatever it takes to reach out to the newer veterans and fight just as hard for them to heal now as they have been doing for their brothers ever since they got back home. They fight to make sure the newer veterans receive the welcome home celebrations, parades and parties they didn't receive at the time of their return, just as they are now receiving them for themselves. They fight to make sure the government takes care of all veterans and have taken leadership positions in the service organizations across the nation.

The veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are no different than these graying veterans. So many of them risking their lives side by side no matter what their background is or what color skin they have, political party they support or if they came from a small town or big city, north or south, they act as a family. They do not see themselves as heroes.

It is very hard for most of them to come home with what they are carrying inside of them. The wound of PTSD, or what I think should be called Traumatic Recoil, will not release them from all they had to endure. They find it very hard to seek help as they look at others missing limbs or other visible wounds. They see themselves in the mirror and think help is for the others, not them. Again, quiet heroes, they suffer in silence with the same kind of courage they found within themselves in battle. They think they can just grit their teeth and push on beyond the pain, the nightmares and flashbacks. They think they can just get over it the way they got over boot camp and the way they got over their 5th deployment into Iraq or Afghanistan. The problem is they are confusing courage with denial. It takes more courage for them to seek help to heal and this they have within them but they do not understand this is a wound and not as most of them think, their fault or a flaw within them. As they spend days suffering they still think they can "get over it" but time is wasted suffering instead of healing simply because they do not understand it.

So many Vietnam veterans with this wound to their soul returned but did not seek help until recently. While with treatment they can heal, they will not fully recover. Had they received the help they needed when they first came home, it would have been healed instead of festering. This is why so many of them are making sure the newer veterans understand what PTSD is and get the help they denied for themselves all those years. They stand as an example that it is not too late to heal and are a testament to the need to heal instead of suffering. They don't want the newer veterans to waste endless days and nights they will live to regret wasting. Many of these veterans got the message and are taking the lead in getting their brothers and sisters to seek help to heal. There is no shame in having PTSD any more than there is any shame in being human. These are still normal humans suffering from the abnormal world of war in a foreign land few others would ever see.

They are all heroes because they put others first in battle. Now they still are because many veterans want to help others heal even before they are fully healed themselves. They have been thru the darkest days, suddenly finding themselves experiencing the feelings again they were not able to feel and they want to share that hope as soon as possible with others. They reach out their hands and say "I've been there and I want you where I am now." standing right by their side to help them get there.

I wish all of our veterans could know how wonderful they really are. For veterans with PTSD, these are truly remarkable people because others are able to just get on with their lives and careers, returning to being a citizen, but for these veterans, the war they carried home with them ends up with them still saving the lives of others out of the compassion filling them. They set aside their own lives for the sake of others everyday.

While I post about some that took their own lives, sadness fills me because a few posts earlier, there will be a news report about veterans saving the lives of others. I wonder why help did not come soon enough to save the lives of the others. If every veteran with PTSD knew what it was and received the help they need to fight it, there would be more standing at the side of those losing hope. Will you help all these heroes get to where they need to be for the sake of the others? Learn what PTSD is and help them heal. The life you save could end up being a chain of lives saved because you really thought of these men and women as heroes worthy of every effort on your part to learn and reach out to them.