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I had to go to Wal-Mart a few weeks ago because I can get some things there at a better price. Wal-Mart is never an enjoyable experience, but I endure it. As I was leaving with my stash I heard a voice to my left. "Sir, I will give you a hundred dollars if you will take me to the VA Hospital." He was in his thirties, close cropped hair, and he had a severe limp. His head was scarred. He was thrusting a hundred dollar bill in my direction. He had a large suitcase on rollers. I knew immediately that he was the real thing.
I said, "There's no way I'm going to take you to the VA for a hundred dollars. I wouldn't charge you a penny. Let's go." I asked him why he was outside Wal-Mart trying to get to the VA Hospital. It seemed that he and his girlfriend had a falling out. He started crying when he told me. He'd just gotten out of a VA program a few days ago, but apparently had some problems with her, and she dumped him. He'd been a team leader in Iraq. He was an E-5 (Sergeant). He'd gone through one IED explosion and had lost companions. Although he was not physically hurt, he said the mental anguish was terrible. The second IED got him in 2003. His right arm, wrist and hand were shattered. His leg was broken in several places and his head was crushed. He suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury. That was very evident as he has speech problems.
He is 100 percent disabled, but as he put it, he is more than 450 percent disabled. He had a house and car but lost them through "bad decisions". His compensation is quite good, about $6,000 a month according to him, but it can't come close to pay for what was done to him. He is bitter, and I don't blame him one bit.
We sent our finest to Iraq (and Afghanistan for that matter). We bring them back in body bags, as psychologically damaged young men and women, crippled, horribly disfigured, multi limbed amputees, severely brain damaged young men and women who will never be able to function in society. To what end?
I left him off at the VA Hospital Emergency Room. I shook his mangled right hand. I should have given him a hug. I will probably never see him again, but who knows. When is this idiocy going to end?
Comments
The same is true of UK vets
However, we're pulling out soon as will the US so all the suffering will be in vain as the Taliban take over again and the women who tasted some freedom will become slaves to their menfolk once more.
What was the point of a campaign that cost the lives of countless civilians and hundreds of NATO troops? Perhaps someone could explain it to this simple minded woman but please don't suggest the security of the US or UK was at stake because then I'll know you're even dumber than I am.
Angharad
Making sure the guns were in working order?
Your guess in the long run is as good as mine. I'm very much a "support the troops but not the war" type.
Melanie E.
Support the troops!
Wash your mouth out with soap! That phrase continues the bullshit that keeps the troops in this quagmire! Every fool that shouts support the troops is, usually, waving a damned flag, thinking they are patriotic. The patriotic thing to do is deny the troops any support and tie your government in knots if you're able.
Been there, done that and got the bloody "T" shirt.
DJ
The suffering will be in vain
It's all about control and profits. No one wins a war. Those who fought it remember it but it is the politicans who always claim the victory.
DJ
When is this idiocy going to end?
It will end when the rest of us remove the oligarchs from office and any position of influence in banking, media or corporations. I don't care if they are removed vertically or horizontally, although the latter they richly deserve.
DJ
Dubya
I always wondered the wisdom of that war. Like all war, America never actually finish things properly, not even WW2. The only difference with WW2 was that Germans were strong people with strong cultural unity. Look at Afghanistan for example, America assisted them just to fight 'godless' Russian Communists, but then they left it behind, allowing Taliban to take over after the power vacuum. Decades later, they came back to Afghanistan because the real leader of the country declared war on America. Even after they won, they still didn't do anything to make life in Afghanistan better. Some analysts claimed that it would've been better if America didn't involve themselves in Afghanistan's affairs.
Arguably, the reason he invaded Iraq was because his father tried to invade Iraq. Only this time, he succeeded in ruling over Baghdad, unlike his father. Even up to this day, Sr's 'One World Order' is attached to the anti-christ brand.
Still, I can't quite understand. Dubya claimed that he will withdraw all troops and America will no longer be the world police. Then he got elected and he trampled everything to go to war in Afghanistand and Iraq. Yet he still got reelected? How was that possible? He lied to everyone's faces.
Wasn't it Dubya who put US into great debt, even grabbing money from the pensioners funds to fund his War on Terror? If that's so, how could everyone bash Obama for trying to fix his mistakes, when Obama was handed a country that runs on nothing but debt?
But, I don't think Obama should be blamed entirely for US soldiers till in Iraq, because after what Dubya did in Iraq, someone needs to maintain order. This is perhaps the right attitude. If left unsupervised, there's a very big chance that Iraq will become another Afghanistan. and we know Dubya failed to defeat the Al Qaeda, even after Osama's death.
My heart goes out to the brave men and women who sacrificed for their country, but I condemn those who selfishly sent them there in the first place.
Bush
Bush, and now Obama, are our albatross.
A ham sandwich can get elected here if it is a Republican or Democrat. If it is for truth, justice and small government, it can't get elected if every voter voted for it because the fraud is so rampant.
As for the troops sacrificing for their country, BS! They are being sacrificed by their country!
DJ