The title reads “Report: 121 veterans linked to killings”
First a little background on me. I am a veteran. I spent 15 years in the army some years back. I have a 17 year old son who is considering joining the military forces so I have spent some time with recruiters lately. So, I do know a little about what takes place in the military.
I saw the title of that news story and had to read what it was about. The story talks about there being an 89% increase of homicides in the last 6 years over the previous 6 years. 75% of those involved Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
This is very troubling to me. Everyone I’m sure has seen movies about the affects the Vietnam war had on it’s veterans. Whether they were true stories or just made up you should realize what the horrors of war can do to a persons mental state. Wars that are fought today are worse than older wars because it’s no longer soldier against soldier fighting in trenches.
I was in during the first Gulf war. It was a quick job to accomplish the mission that we set out to do. We moved the Iraq army out of Kuwait. Once we accomplished that mission we went home. This war that we are fighting is not as certain. We are trying to fight terrorists and trying to stabilize a country full of terrorists. This type of war in my mind can never end.
So, what does that do to our soldiers who are now doing numerous tours over there? Well obviously it seems to be messing them up mentally. What is it like where you have to patrol an area where the enemy is everywhere, but you can’t see them because you don’t really know who they are? What is it like to see children and other civilians maimed by bombs that are set to kill our troops? Just thinking about it seems as though it would be pretty horrific, but without really being there to see it we can only imagine.
What is our government doing for our soldiers returning from these areas in order to help them out mentally after seeing all of this carnage? From what I understand not very much. From what this report shows they definitely aren’t doing anywhere near enough.
These soldiers lay there life on the line every day. It’s high time that we do something for them that will help stabilize their lives once they return. I don’t care whether you are for or against this war. You have to agree that we all owe these young men and women something for their service to our country.
So what do we do, bring everyone home? No, I’m a big believer that keep the terrorists busy over there is a good idea. The U.S. is a target and will remain one. It’s better to keep the terrorists busy over there than to give them the opportunity to come here again.
What we need to do is get better programs in the military that will help them mentally when they return. Every soldier regardless of occupation needs to be evaluated when they return home and treated if necessary. We can’t just let someone return home after going through what they have gone through.
If we don’t start developing some programs to help out the defenders of this nation, eventually it will all fall apart….along with our great nation.
