The Price Paid For Your Freedom Is Still Being Paid, Over and Over Again

When Someone Else Pays The Price, It Isn't Free
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 18, 2015

It happened when troops were sent to Vietnam and war coverage was brought to every home in America. It happened to veterans of the Korean War the same way it did to veterans of WWII and WI. It happened to all those generation when troops were sent to Kuwait. Outsiders didn't know what it was doing to the veterans because they wouldn't talk about it. Not than anyone bothered to ask them. Folks didn't know so they just didn't care.

Then came that dreadful day in September of 2001 when advocates were screaming about what was to come after the attack on our own soil. Few listened, even less understood the warnings were very real.

Troops were sent into Afghanistan in October and the screams were louder because the evidence was presenting itself throughout the veteran community. Most families didn't understand what happened to shred their lives as they knew them.

In 2003, another war began in Iraq and President Bush gave a speech to announce it.

Million of Americans are praying with you for the safety of your loved ones and for the protection of the innocent.

For your sacrifice, you have the gratitude and respect of the American people and you can know that our forces will be coming home as soon as their work is done.

Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.

We will meet that threat now with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of firefighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.

While everyone in this country has the opportunity to enjoy freedom, few felt the price was worth paying to retain it. The others never really understood how valuable it was. They simply took it for granted someone would always show up and risk their lives for it. When someone else pays the price, it isn't free.

There was no mention of the price being paid in over 20 million homes with veterans of past wars fighting a renewed battle to live.

In 2009, the attack came in the disguise of one of their own. The terrorist attack came from not just a soldier, but an officer and psychologist in charge of caring for their mental health. It will forever be known as the Fort Hood Massacre but no one bothered to calculate the cost for the families at Fort Hood or on all the other bases around the world.

Army Ret. Command Sgt. Maj., James Rominger reaches down to touch one of the 13 crosses surrounded by American Flags in front of the Central Christian church, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009, in Killeen, Texas. CREDIT: AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

No one bothered to sum up the crisis for all the other veteran families yet again.

In a Tennessee town, another attack left 4 Marines dead. Americans were shocked for a few minutes and then got on with their lives. Community members near the recruiting office let the grief touch their hearts. For current military members, this will not be something they simply get over or move on from. They will take it with them wherever they go right along with every other veteran who paid the price so that others had the right to forget.

David Wyatt, killed in Chattanooga, was even-keeled mentor to Marines
Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
July 17 2015

“He was a mentor and a leader to a lot of guys who are now like, ‘Wow,’ ” Bein said. “It’s going to bring back a lot of memories for guys, especially knowing that stuff like this is now on our own soil. Good Lord.”

Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt was a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a pillar of support to his comrades in those conflicts who came home with physical or emotional scars.

After Matt Bein was wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2009, he turned to Wyatt for help in wrestling through what he should do with the rest of his life — leave the Marine Corps, or find some way to continue to serve despite his injuries.

“He was a mentor and a leader to a lot of guys,” said Bein, a former joint terminal attack controller who ultimately decided to accept a medical retirement as a sergeant. read more here

part two Vietnam Requiem Revisisted