Tag: Military

The above subject title is the forth addition in a week long series at Salon.com by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna on the returned Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan called “Coming Home”. It’s the open window into what happens to some after serving in man’s hell on earth, Wars and Occupations of Choice!

The subject title above is the third installment of a week long series of reports being run at Salon.com.

The first two installment reports can be found in links below or with this link of what I posted previously

Salon.com has a series running all this week called “Coming Home”, researched and written by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna.

The following is the description and lead in information on the series:

Coming to terms with the reality and the lessons ignored for far too long, which ultimately by ignoring led us into the Deja-Vu of invasion and long term occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the failed leadership exposed!

Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth About U.S. War Crimes

Inside, the book, the Army’s Secret Archive of Investigations.

Atrocities, on all sides, are only a part of the story of the Tragedy of War and Occupation.

The rest we are once again observing and those serving and sacrificing in these theaters are living, along with their families.

Earlier today I received an e-mail from an on line friend, she is the wife of a military serviceman now serving in Iraq, she is also very active in support of her fellow spouses and the families as well as returning OIF and OEF military personal seeking needed help but finding the going sometimes extremely troubling, confusing or denied.

Many of us Veterans have found her and she us and have gotten to know her through our own advocacy of our brothers and sisters. Some are working directly with her and she with them.

She has written a very personal letter, the title I used above is the one from her letter to us, of her experiences and feelings, as a military spouse, and while posting it on a few sites it has now found it’s way to a number of other sites.

Yesterday another Class Action Lawsuit was presented this time at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the previous was presented a few months back in California federal court on complaints from Veterans of OIF and OEF, and others, as to disability payments delayed and or denied.

When we returned from Vietnam many of the Vietnam Vets, needing care at Veterans clinics and Veterans Hospitals as well as attempting to file and receive disability benefits of already diagnosed Occupation Theater physical and mental ailments went through much of the same treatment. Those coming back and developing very serious ailments from coming in contact with heavily sprayed area’s of the Defoliants, mostly Agent Orange, were not only denied benefits and treatment the Government and Chemical Companies Denied they were hazardous to humans. We are going through the same All Over Again.

Not to long ago and most certainly not a ‘once upon a time’, though the response by the country would leave one to think some were telling fairy tales because the rest paid little attention, a group of soldiers were returning from an occupation of a destroyed small country a half a world away.

As we returned many started developing a wide variety of ailments, physical and mental, well maybe a few of the rest were listening about the mental issues for they were telling my brothers it was all in their heads.

The Whole Countries Responsibility, Not Singular Groups!!!

While this was a Great Gesture, on the part of the Redskins Organization teaming up with other Advocacy Groups, this is much more than a one day need. We who serve don’t serve for singular organizations We Serve The Country and an Oath and Contract is made for our service. It is the Responsibility, Every Day, for the Country Served to aid our Brothers and Sisters who have given much more than just their Service, Physically and Mentally, because of these Wars of Choice!!

McClatchy carries one of the realities further in this article I just caught. The subject title above is the beginning of theirs and it finishes with this: here’s to Kareem the Soldier

Khan was a 20-year-old soldier from Manahawkin, N.J., who wanted to enlist in the Army from the time he was 10. He was an all-American boy who visited Disney World after he completed his training at Fort Benning, Ga., and made his comrades in Iraq watch “Saving Private Ryan” every week.

I want to point you to a friends website PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within if you hadn’t know about Ilona’s work and research, or if you’ve visited but not in awhile.

And point you to her recent post OEF/OIF Veteran Suicide Toll: Nearly 15% of Overall U.S. Military Casualties Result from Suicide

I’m only going to give you a small snippet of her post, visit and read the rest, for there are a number of link backs giving one an open window in the problems that war and occupation theaters inflict on those who serve in them, as well as the people of the occupied and destroyed countries.
 

Just prior to the Republican Convention Veterans For Peace held their annual convention, it to took place in the twin cities area, Minneapolis-St Paul. For those who might be interested you can take a look at some photo’s of the VFP Convention Here and Here

But this isn’t about the VFP Convention, it’s about what came out of.

Veterans For Peace adopted two resolutions last week effectively firing signal flares into the path of whoever wins this November’s election, regardless of party.

Many of us, especially Veterans who are Advocates for our brothers and sisters and those Civilians who join that advocacy, have been writing about the Veterans Administration and especially Veterans Care, which in these times of conflicts also encompass the Military Care system as well. With this technology we can push our advocacy untill it’s paid the attention it should already have by those who do the job of reporting as a profession. And because of the extreme lack of oversight and concern by the representatives we hire, as the drums of war were first pounding and the years following, we find breaking stories far to often in these last months. Months that have brought out the problems with the care, the overwelming numbers needing care and being denied for months or just denied, the living conditions of those receiving the care and even serving, and so much more.

When we write about the needs or the lack oversight and funds we far to often, myself included though I try and remember in my rage, leave out the facts of the true dedication of the workers in the VA System. The workers, who like most of us working stiffs, give their all to the jobs and professions they perform and have to deal with what’s lacking from the administrations, top on down, of these agencies. In the government that administration starts with the Executive Branch, the Congress, the Political Appointee’s to head and the Political Appointee’s they bring in, and Especially to the Governed, Us, who fight the costs needed or follow political ideology leadership if not wanted.

Every once in awhile a report will surface of that dedication within: