Yes, Soldiers Are People

This is a "The Whirling Dervish" piece originally published by Speakeasy September 27, 2006.

It was Saturday night when the call came. A friend was enjoying the weekend when that phone call came. Her cousin in Iraq was riding in a Humvee when it ran over a mine and exploded.

No one was sure what had happened to him, exactly; he might not live through it. Almost certainly, he would lose his legs. All anyone could do was wait for news, a special kind of hell for those of us on the home front.
Sunday was met with good news: He was alive and, while his legs sustained several fractures, amputation was not necessary. Even with the broken eye sockets, it was as close to the best case scenario one could ask for. Relief washed over like a gentle wave.

That is, until the next bit of news came in: that he would not be coming home. Not only was he staying in Iraq, he is only staying in the hospital for 10 days before being sent back out. A guy who signed up for the reserves because he wanted money for college, a guy who was blown up just days ago, a guy who should, must, needs to come home, is being dumped back on the field with injuries that will take to months to heal.

And that is saying nothing about the mental damage that he has sustained. He should have access to the best therapy, yet he will get nothing. We can only speculate as to the damage being done there. Of course, he has no desire to stay over there; who would? This is his second injury sustained in Iraq; he had been shot in the leg before.

With Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld extending the tour of duty for 4,000 soldiers recently, it is obvious the Army is under incredible strain. Hard decisions have to be made for the military good.

But at some point, we’re not treating these people like humans anymore. They’re just cogs in the machine, used until they can’t be and thrown out. America does not have the best track record in dealing with veterans, but one has to wonder if someone decided the best solution is to limit the number of people that come back.
That is not a suggestion that the Pentagon is deliberately trying to kill off soldiers. However, it is a suggestion that the price is becoming too high when people can get blown up and they can’t be sent home or even given sufficient time to heal. With each passing week, the Bush Administration has more questions it needs to address about Iraq. Such treatment of the men and women that signed up to defend the country is decidedly un-American and being sent to die in a battle that seems more like a Roman war of expansion than a defensive operation.

It’s easy to point the blame at Rumsfeld and Bush on this, and undoubtedly many people will. However, that might be a part of the problem. Most Americans have buried their heads in the sand, complaining of news stories in the papers and on TV. They don’t want to see it; they don’t want to acknowledge it. They just want to blame the guy sitting in the Oval Office and his cronies and be done with it. They ignore the fact that their doublethink allows the people making the decisions to keep severely injured people in a combat environment. Say what you want about Cindy Sheehan, but she forced people to pay attention; forced the president to acknowledge her. That’s powerful. That’s responsible.

So why aren’t most of us doing it? Are we really that afraid to take responsibility for our actions? Sure, you walk around with that trendy “NOT my President” bumper sticker, but the actions of the military represent us, reflect us, whether or not you support it. During Vietnam, people reacted with outrage, but with Iraq, people simply aren’t reacting anymore. Until they do, more soldiers that should be coming home and being sent back out. And while they might not be killed with a bullet, they’re dying on the inside at the very least.