Considering there are always distractions taking up airtime on the cable news stations, serious ones like the shootings in Tucson, stupid ones like Sarah Palin's feelings being hurt, no one seems to be able to find any time to cover the troops and our veterans.
There were heroes last week in Tucson and average people put their lives on the line to save others placed against a madman with a gun. There was a healing moment at the Memorial gathering when the unity of this country and what was good was raised up above the evil act that caused the need to heal. These were worthy of the attention given by the media. The political gossip and finger pointing were distractions just as covering Sarah Palin for days was a distraction from what people really needed to learn.
This should have been a wake up call to the media to stop the nonsense of covering the political divide making it seem worse than what it is and start to make a difference.
The truth is, while on TV we see people hating other people on the other side of the political divide, we all live next to each other, help each other, work with each other and yes, pray for each other. This was made clear last week in Tucson. When the prayers of the nation were with all the survivors and their families, no one was thinking about how they voted. They just cared about fellow Americans. When those killed were being mourned, they were not Democrat or Republican, they were Americans just as after the attacks on September 11th, they were all our neighbors and they mattered to us. No one cared how they voted or anything other than that simple fact.
This is something the men and women in the military learned to do a long time ago. They risk their lives for their "family" and nothing means more than that to them. Even after combat when they are supposed to be safe back home, they still watch over their "family" and when one of them cannot carry the pain any longer, they all wonder what could have been done to save their lives and make it better to live than to die. They also wonder if they will end up the same way.
There are tragedies all over this country showing how we have failed the men and women serving as heroes everyday putting the lives of someone else above their own but we are not reminded about them.
No Airman left behind: Life after suicideIf FOX, MSNBC and CNN stopped turning every program into a political war, covered how average people live and work together, there would be great healing in this country and then maybe they would be able to find the time to help the troops heal. Maybe they would find the time to report on the heroes we have saving lives in Iraq and Afghanistan because we sent them there. Maybe they would have time to report on the suffering of them and their families when they come home. Then maybe, just maybe they could do some good instead of just increasing the reasons some feel the need to turn everything into a political war. There are two real wars going on and then there is another one when they come home.
Posted 1/12/2011
by Staff Sgt. Erica Picariello
50th Space Wing Public Affairs
1/12/2011 - SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- As a "rainbow flight" member on day zero in basic military training, Airmen are taught the wingman concept. From a brand new lieutenant or an airman basic to a four-star general or chief master sergeant, the Air Force indoctrinates this concept, which symbolizes a person who becomes a rock during uncertain times, a caring heart or maybe an extra set of hands to help get the job done. For most, this means there will always be someone there during a hardship.
But what happens if that person, the only person who has helped or cared, takes their life?
This was one Schriever Airman's reality after waking up July 20, 2010, the day after 1st Lt. Mark Moret, 4th Space Operations Squadron satellite vehicle operator, committed suicide.
"I woke up doubting myself," the Schriever member said. "You wonder why they didn't come to you, you wonder why you're here, why you're still breathing, living - when there was a fine example of a person who ended it all. He would always come to me about anything. So I wondered why he didn't about this."
"I went to Iraq, and when I came back, I noticed both he and I were different," the Schriever Airman lamented. "I was trying to give him some space to get through his issues, because I was trying to help myself get back into the swing of things. I was having bad dreams, and difficulty dealing with being back. It was a very confusing time.
The Operation-Iraqi-Freedom veteran leaned on his wingman, pressing through initial Post Traumatic Stress Disorder signs knowing that he always had his friend.
On July 18, 2010, the Schriever Airman, Lieutenant Moret and Lieutenant Moret's wife sat down for dinner. This was the last time the return deployer saw his best friend alive.
"I raised my glass and said, "Hey, man - thanks for having my back for the past three years and thanks for being my support system. Thanks for proving me wrong when I thought the Air Force was the worst place in the world, that you helped get my head on straight, through rough times after my deployment and you helped me meet cool people, that you helped me stop worrying about people so much and teaching me to enjoy my job. Thank you," he said.
The next day Mark was gone.
read more here
http://www.schriever.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123238128
Increased suicide rate prevalent in US military
By Tyler Silvy
Contributing Reporter
Published: Monday, December 6, 2010
Cookie Wright never thought about killing himself. But then again, he's a Marine Corps veteran, he's supposed to be tough.
He may not have thought about killing himself, but Wright, a secondary education sophomore at Oklahoma State University, has been depressed.
"There was a time when I was pretty f***** up in the head," Wright said.
That time came between deployments. Wright was deployed twice to the same region, Al Anbar Province, Iraq. It was August 2006 to May 2007, and January 2008 to September 2008. After the first deployment, Wright was stationed at 29 Palms in California.
For nearly a year, he had flashbacks.
The worst were the nightmares, Wright said. He had nightmares that would wake him out of sound sleep.
Wright never sought and was never forced to attend individual counseling sessions. He says he's much better now than he was then, but he wouldn't say he has recovered.
"Things don't bother me like they used to," Wright said. "I'd say the biggest factor is time, I guess just maturing."
Some of his friends weren't so lucky.
"I have friends who aren't as well adjusted," Wright said. "I have friends that haven't moved on."
And, there's the rub: He may be right. Since troops were deployed to the Middle East in 2001, military suicide rates have risen exponentially each year. Suicides have accounted for more than 2,100 deaths since 2001, almost triple the number of troops who have died in Afghanistan and almost half of all deaths in Iraq. In 2009, for the first time, more military personnel took their lives than died at the hands of enemy combatants, according to a 2009 Congressional Quarterly compilation.
Lt. Col. William Beck of the OSU Army ROTC, said the Army didn't see this coming.read more here
"We as an organization admitted we did not see this problem coming, and we weren't ready to deal with it," Beck said.
Increased suicide rate prevalent in US military
I don't know about you but I stopped watching cable news as soon as politics comes up. I watch it for real news reports and then shut it off. I think better of the American people and believe in them a lot more than the minority on TV acting as if their political view is worthy of hating anyone. I have too many friends on both sides and there is not one of them who does not love this country as much as I do and I know for sure they do not live and breathe their party line above taking care of their neighbors and being a friend.
We come together in times of crisis. We see average people pulling together when someone is in need. We see it when they get on their motorcycles for a charity ride. When they show up at events to help the homeless, feed the hungry at soup kitchens, buy extra food to donate to the hungry families, pitch in to build a home and when they take the time to offer hope to someone with none. Heroes among us show up after a disaster and ask nothing more than "how can I help" while they forget about their own problems and comforts. We saw it leading up to Christmas when donations of toys for poor kids were given by total strangers so they could have something on Christmas morning. We see it when a neighbor offers to shovel out another neighbor unable to shovel the snow. We also see it when a family near us is in mourning for the loss of one of their own. We see it when church members come to the aid of someone in need no matter what church they themselves go to or even if they don't go to church at all.
These acts of kindness we live with everyday and they surround us with care and compassion but when we turn on the TV we hear anger and hatred. When we hear political people attack each other we think that is all there is and it feeds the divide. When we see political rallies with hateful signs and shouts about violence, we think that is all over the country but the truth is far from it. All this week there has been a lot of talk about "toning" down the rhetoric but they should be toning down the coverage as well so that it is not all over the news all the time.
When will the day come we can stop saying we didn't see something coming because we were distracted by a lot of nonsense?
No comments:
Post a Comment
If it is not helpful, do not be hurtful. Spam removed so do not try putting up free ad.