What they did for love

What they did for love
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
December 8, 2012


Part of the Soldier's Creed is "I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough" but while this is true it is also one of the reasons the military has yet to understand why so many war fighters kill themselves. They are trained and they are physically and mentally tough enough to be able to do what they do especially when it comes down to putting their lives on the line. The problem is this "mentally tough" idea has been incorporated into where it should have never placed. Resiliency Training intended to "prevent" PTSD. Telling them they can train their brains to be tough enough translates into "they are mentally weak if they end up with PTSD" but the DOD doesn't understand that. They have yet to change how they address PTSD or suicides. They just keep repeating the same failures over and over again.

For Those I love I Will Sacrifice is the most popular post on this blog among over 17,000 other posts. As of today it has been read 34,734 times since it was posted August 25, 2011 because of the tattoo in this picture.

"For those I love I will sacrifice" are the words on his chest but they are also the basis of why men and women decide to serve in the military. Love and war? Yes. They do not do it out of hate. They do not do it to kill but they do it to defend.

Doing something out of love does not seem to be as "tough" as doing something out of hate but since it takes the same type of person to act as police officers, firefighters, emergency responders, National Guards and all the others putting their lives on the line, you'll understand what I mean about how love often makes them tougher than hating.

Soldier’s Creed
I am an American Soldier.
I am a warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

2012 marked the 237th birthday of the Army. Ever since then people have been willing to risk their lives for the sake of the rest of the country.

There has always been and always will be average Americans willing to do for others even if it means the price they pay may be sacrificing their lives.

This is what the rest of us forget. When we read about the increased suicide rates among the men and women serving in the military, do we really think about it or just read it an move on? Do we think how they went from wanting to survive during combat but not wanting to live after it?

More commit suicide out of theater than in it yet this never seems to get through to us. Why live through war only to die back home by their own hands? Because during war they are thinking of the others they are with and more concerned with their lives than their own. When they come home, the only one in danger is themselves but others are not there to watch over them and remind them what they did for love when all they can remember is what they had to do because they loved.

They love those they defend more than they hate those they fight.


"We did what we had to do. Won't forget, can't regret what I did for love."