[Vision2020] When Sacrifices are No Longer Front-Page News

[Donovan Arnold]

Hansen,

This was a good article. Thanks for bringing it to our
attention. It is not just current troops that are
being ignored. WWI veterans where run over by tanks on
the White House lawn. Many of our WWII, Vietnam, and
Iraqi War I veterans have been thrown into dire
situations when they return home.  Many are denied
disability benefits. If you ever feed the homeless in
Washington DC, or any major US city, you would see
that many of them are disabled Vietnam war veterans.
Persons with disabilities are the most discriminated
against group of people--they are not given a job for
losing an arm for their country, they are denied one.
And even today, WWII veterans often end up in
underfunded and understaffed government run nursing
homes or long term care facilities.

Mr. Bush has now even denied a ceremony for our fallen
soldiers coming home.

Donovan J Arnold



--- Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> >From this coming week's (week of August 8, 2005)
> Army Times
> (www.armytimies.com) -
> 
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> When sacrifices are no longer front-page news
> 
> By David R. Welling
> 
> It seems that as the war on terrorism drags on, we
> are entering an
> especially dangerous period.
> The bullets and the bombs are still killing and
> maiming. What seems
> different today, compared with three years ago, is
> that the American public
> is getting a case of battle fatigue. And as we tire,
> we begin to show
> evidence of a chink in the armor that the enemy
> might well exploit.
> 
> Remember all those homes in your neighborhood flying
> our flag right after
> the terrorist attacks in September 2001? How many
> flags do you see today? 
> 
> Remember all those patriotic speeches, from both
> major political parties?
> Today many of those politicians are asking about
> exit strategies and
> deadlines and dates of departure.
> 
> Americans have the attention span of a gnat. We like
> 20-second sound bites.
> We go through rock stars and fashions and TV heroes
> as if everything is
> consumable, knowing that there is a fresh batch of
> rock stars and fashions
> and TV heroes waiting in the wings as we tire of the
> old ones.
> 
> We do not focus for long on anything, even if it is
> in our vital national
> interest to stay focused.
> 
> In my work, I have the privilege of visiting Walter
> Reed Army Medical Center
> and Bethesda National Naval Medical Center on a
> regular basis. Both
> hospitals have served the injured troops with
> distinction. It always gives
> me the feeling that I am in the presence of
> greatness as I walk those halls.
> 
> 
> It is common to see amputees trying to learn to walk
> again, or learning to
> use a wheelchair, coming down the hall. Many of the
> injured troops face huge
> challenges and uncertainties.
> 
> Most still have a great sense of team, of family, of
> pride in their service.
> 
> 
> They often tell you that they would like to go back,
> to get back into the
> fray, to stay on active duty. 
> 
> I was serving in Landstuhl, Germany, when the war on
> terrorism kicked off
> back in 2001. The very first casualty from this war
> came back to our
> hospital the night I was on call, and I was involved
> on a personal basis
> with his care.
> 
> This is what I remember most about that night: It
> took me about an hour to
> get to my patient?s bed because of all the phone
> calls I was receiving. I
> had calls from his congressman; from Fort McPherson,
> Ga.; from Scott Air
> Force Base, Ill.; from the press; from his
> commander, etc.
> 
> It was amazing to see the amount of interest
> generated by the first
> casualty. I finally declared that I would not talk
> to another soul until I
> could go and assess my patient.
> 
> I sometimes reflect on that first casualty and
> wonder how things have
> changed from that first night. No longer is a wound
> a big news item. In the
> papers now, it is routine to see articles about
> improvised explosive devices
> taking out vehicles, with soldiers killed and others
> wounded. Just a few
> words on a back page.
> 
> To me, it is not nearly enough. It does not honor
> the sacrifice. It does not
> explain the pain. It does not describe the anguish
> of worried relatives or
> the difficulty of rehabilitation or the fear of an
> uncertain future. 
> 
> And despite the lack of publicity, the wounded
> continue to come in, day
> after day.
> 
> We need to remember and honor and sustain these
> brave warriors, and never,
> ever forget. 
> 
> The writer is a retired colonel who was a surgeon in
> the Air Force for 30
> years. His e-mail address is
> wellinglindydave at yahoo.com.
> 
>
------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Take care, Moscow.
> 
> Pro patria,
> 
> Tom Hansen
> 
> "Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of
> emotion but the tranquil
> and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
>  
> --Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
> 
> 
> 
>
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