When they can ask no more of us

by
Chaplain Kathie

When they can ask no more of us, why is it that we seem to suddenly be able to find the time to show up? Do we track ICasualties.org to find the latest news? How many of us even know how many have laid down their lives in service doing what we asked of them? Anyone? 4,330 in Iraq and 768 in Afghanistan as of today according to ICasualties. Naturally this is not counting the suicides or the wounded, or those who succumbed to wounds after. We don't keep count of the families that have fallen apart either.

We may never know the true numbers of wounded because PTSD is not reported by every veteran or solider suffering. Some of them get on motorcycles and crash them either speeding and they go out of control, or on purpose to end their pain. Some do it with cars. No one can ever tell for sure if an accident is an accident or a suicide cover-up to spare their families.

The DOD has one count of suicides, but their figures are never accurate simply because so many of them remain "under investigation" so the numbers are easy to hide, but easier because the media really doesn't seem to be able to find the time to demand answers, at least for the sake of the family left to wonder why a son or daughter, husband, wife or parent is not going to be home anymore. The VA has another count on their own, but once again, they don't really work too hard to find out what the numbers are, but even if they did, they simply wouldn't know all the numbers. The frightening thing is, many families do not report it to the VA or the media as a suicide connected to service in combat.

Too many never think of any of this. People living in the same town or city never even try to know what the veterans need, how many homeless veterans live there or how many families are suffering.

These same people may hear of a soldier being laid to rest on a certain day, think about traffic being blocked with a military funeral procession and make sure they avoid the area. Others show up to line the roads, take off their hats, maybe even wave a flag. Then some will go about their own business, never bothering to check to see if anyone else died after that. They will wait until their local media prints a notice in the paper or a friend calls to tell them about it.

How is this happening? How is it that we've come to this point where no one seems to really care on a daily basis? Is it the media's fault people have to bother to look on a site like ICasualties.org to find out? No! It's our own fault. If more people went into this site on a daily basis, the broadcast media would notice and begin to report on Iraq and Afghanistan along with everything else going on. They wouldn't be able to spend weeks covering the death of a celebrity no matter how important they are because the American people would have shown the important issue to them is the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the veterans all across the country.

What good does it do to acknowledge them when they can ask no more of us?

I received this from Matt Daniels at Great Americans. I'm asking you to read what he wrote and then watch the video. It will only take a few moments out of your day. If you're reading this blog, I know you care or you wouldn't be here. This is not a
lesson you need to learn but I'm sure you know people that need a wake up call to pay attention. Often people are good hearted and only need to be made aware of things. We're all very busy in our own lives, but when people know there is a crisis, they respond.

This is not a matter of politics, but just Americans in this one nation the men and women in the military are serving. It doesn't matter if your friends are Democrat or Republican. If they watch FOX, MSNBC or CNN. This is about the people we're supposed to care about needing us to prove it to them when they are alive and will know how much they mean to us.

The Day Michael Jackson Died

Would you like to know why we’ve labored long and hard to create Great Americans? This video will tell you why.

The day Michael Jackson died was also the day that Brian Bradshaw died in combat in Afghanistan. Bradshaw was honored in his hometown. But the rest of America never noticed.

This video is hard to watch. But it’s worth watching. And CBS deserves a lot of credit for producing and airing it.

A culture that worships celebrities – fawning on every detail of their lives and deaths – implicitly devalues the greatness of the ordinary men and women who make real sacrifices to sustain our society. Some are in uniform. Some are the parents, spouses and family members who support those who protect us – both at home and abroad.

This is the story of the sacrifice of one 24 year old American soldier and his family. But it is also the story of many other families throughout our history. If we forget them, then we cannot survive as a nation. In fact, we don’t deserve to.



Matt Daniels
Creator & Executive Producer

A Day To Remember - watch more videos