Will we ever "tally the true cost of war?"

Will we ever "tally the true cost of war?"
by
Chaplain Kathie
"All gave some, some gave all" but the nation didn't seem to care when the troops came home from Vietnam. The civilians just wanted to get over it, stop having to see it on TV and having to read about it in their local newspapers. They wanted to be done with it, and so, they were. The problem was, the Vietnam veterans weren't over it. They didn't have to watch it on TV because they were there and because they were there, most had the memories playing like a movie in their mind over and over again. They didn't have to read about it in newspapers because they were reading it in the eyes of their brothers. Whatever happened to them after was left up to the media to report on but they limited those reports to arrests for drugs and crimes leaving the rest of the nation with the desire to write them all off as worth-less.

They were worth less than when the protestors wanted them out of Vietnam while claiming to care about their lives. They were worth less to the war supporters saying that staying in Vietnam would honor the lives already lost. They were worth less to their communities saddened by having to read about the men and women from their own towns killed in action.

They were worth less to employers not wanting to take a chance on them. Worth less to Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans along with other service groups formed by "real veterans" of WWI, WWII and a few Korean veterans still partially accepted among their ranks. They were even worth less to their own families as they woke up in the middle of the night shaking, sweating, screaming in the darkness. The war ended officially but the death count didn't. Too many took their own lives. The count of the wounded didn't officially end as PTSD spread, symptoms got worse and lives fell apart along with families destroyed.

The American people were moving on and trying to forget about Vietnam but in the process, forget about the men and women sent to risk their lives there and kept paying the price for doing it.

Now if we wonder how long it will take for America to forget about the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans we are just ignoring the fact they already have.

The New Lost Generation
Suicide rates for troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are out of control, and post-traumatic stress disorder is reaching epidemic proportions. But is the Pentagon willing to tally the true cost of war?
BY RON CAPPS
AUGUST 10, 2010

When the war is over, when the troops are finally home and reunited with their families, when the dead have been buried and the wounded cared for -- then comes the reckoning. Sometimes it happens quickly, with the terrible cost of war weighed against the tyrants silenced, rebellions crushed, or populations rescued. Sometimes the reckoning takes longer, after the parades are over, flags furled and cased, subjects quietly changed. But no matter the form, the reckoning always comes. And after Washington's current military campaigns, it will be a heavy one indeed. Nine years, more than $1 trillion, at least 5,600 dead and 43,000 wounded. These are the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts -- the ones we can tally.
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The New Lost Generation

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