Monday, August 30, 2010
Aint Gonna Fight No War No More Redux
I do not know if all Philadelphia Inquirer articles are available online, but in case any of you still harbored doubts about the accuracy and relevancy of my opinions, find this article online; "The immeasurable costs of war" by Colonel Daniel Davis, an army cavalry officer. He basically reinforced and eloquently expanded upon a thought, stated in my previous post, only in a much more elegant and personal fashion as he is a veteran with real life experience.
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http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100830_The_immeasurable_costs_of_a_war.html
ReplyDeleteThank you KAL.
ReplyDeleteI linked the title of the article by Col Davis to the web address so one may click on it.
ReplyDeleteI will never forget when war first personally touched me as a teenager. I never remember my Mom crying, except the day that our next door neighbor told her that her son had been drafted to Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteI learned from my Mom, as I grew older, the impact that serving as an Army officer on the front line in Korea had on my father.
Most recently, the impact of war was personalized for me by a patient who was in the Special Forces. An AED exploded while he was trying to dismantle it. His wife appealed to the VA for him to be transferred from Walter Reed to a rehab hospital near their home where I had the pleasure to meet him. The pictures taped to the walls of his room spoke to his military accomplishments.
In a subsequent meeting with a military general regarding partnering to meet the rehabilitation needs of returning soldiers, I will never forget his statement, "No one understands that the needs of our returning soldiers with PTSD far exceed the capacity of the VA system and the issues experienced post Vietnam."
I can't help but think of a line in a favorite Peter, Paul and Mary song- "When will they ever learn?" ("Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"