Tag: OIF

Daniel Zwerdling {link takes you to a page of his reports}, of NPR, has been doing stellar investigative reporting on PTSD and TBI, now for a number of years, as the two occupations we’re engaged in continued on. It took the media a few years to finally grasp what was already known as to the results of War on the soldiers we send. Even with the some four decades of many of us Vietnam Veterans, as well as other Veterans, and the Civilians who recognized those results and have been speaking out about. Like everything else the public either ignored or certainly didn’t want to hear. We didn’t have the present day technology and sadly it’s taking two more long occupations for the realities to finally speak of what happens and reach more and more people who now can’t ignore. The media to finally started reporting on the results of war, not recognized before, as well as the understanding that same happens within the civilian populations, wars are not the only cause. Traumatic Brain Injuries have been known about and treated in the public but even those are being looked at and re-studied, as there is much more now known in needing to understand and bring new treatments for or advance the treatments used.

Honoring the fallen in Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez, USAF Photo by SSgt. Matt Davis, USAF NTM-A

31 May 2010 As the sun set over Camp Eggers on Memorial Day, hundreds of coalition members gathered to pay tribute to comrades lost in battle – not just U.S. fallen heroes, but fallen heroes from every nation.

During the coalition memorial remembrance ceremony, service members who gave their life in support of Operation Enduring Freedom were honored with a moment of silence and a roll call of their names during a candlelight ceremony.

“Those that have given their last full measure for this mission are as varied as those that serve here today,” said Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan and Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan commanding general. “Privates to chief warrant officers to lieutenant colonels – from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Latvia, the United States and from Afghanistan – they are members of all services, from National Guard, Reserve and Active components.”

While many countries have their own dedicated day set aside to remember the fallen members of their armed forces, special effort was made to include all coalition countries into the Memorial Day remembrance as a sign of the joint effort and sacrifice happening in Afghanistan. Representatives of many coalition nations were present at the ceremony, raising flags, lighting candles and paying their respects. Continued

While the Chilcott Iraq War Inquiry was mostly about what was going on in Britain at the time of the lead up and into the Iraq War and Occupation there were many points made, early on especially, as to what was happening in the White House as well as between the Counterparts in the Governments and the Military’s of both countries. Just below is a clip of what I had posted of testimony coming out of that Inquiry:

Iraq, Rapidly becoming the Forgotten War!!

There have been 4,719 coalition deaths — 4,402 Americans, 2 Australians, 1 Azerbaijani, 179 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, 1 Czech, 7 Danes, 2 Dutch, 2 Estonians, 1 Fijian, 5 Georgians, 1 Hungarian, 33 Italians, 1 Kazakh, 1 South Korean, 3 Latvian, 22 Poles, 3 Romanians, 5 Salvadoran, 4 Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, 2 Thai and 18 Ukrainians — in the war in Iraq as of May 5 2010, according to a CNN count. { Graphical breakdown of casualties }. The list also includes 14 U.S. Defense Department civilian employees. At least 31,790 {31,762 last month} U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. View casualties in the war in Afghanistan

Have a friend that contacted me and in that e-mail she told me about a brainstorming meeting taking place just before this weekend and into, April 1-3 of the Millennial Veterans. One of the couples sons, an Afghanistan and Iraq war Veteran, he served in both theaters, is attending this gathering. This group of Millennials sounds an awful lot like what happened as to us boomer’s especially those of us after our service in the military and especially Vietnam. Matter of fact the whole movement, the Millennials, of this generational group are getting much more involved in many issues that seemed to have skipped over the couple of generations just previous to them at least for most in those generations. I’ve been watching them for a few years now. They’ve not only taken up the issues we oldsters worried about and lobbied to change, in government and in society, they’ve been expanding on them not only to fit these times but like the technology they’ve expanded the issues forward, and now some of them have not only served in War but have done so in Two occupations of choice and in more then one tour of duty.

We had already started the planning and reserving the venue for the ‘teach in’, Saturday, and March of Wreaths on Sunday only weeks  before, not knowing the ‘shock and awe’ would start only a couple of days prior to.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 11.11.09, I caught a couple of important discussions in the continuing known by us veterans are the results of wars and occupations of choice, or any war and occupation, as to the veterans and military personal once they’ve been sent to serve in and then return home, most being discharged from their service obligation after serving the time they signed up for, all at that point or later becoming the veterans of their service.

This first one is just a news report I happened upon but hits on the issue many of us are long time advocates of and adds to the rest posted below it.