The grueling nature of war continues. Tonight (tomorrow already in Iraq), 2 Marines died and 22 were injured in the Anbar province. (That's 22 people, who if they live, and we surely hope they do, will have some potentially pretty horrible memories to integrate into their future lives. Not all will be able to, statistically.) An acquaintance whose young Army son came back from Iraq and took his own life, told us he would have celebrated his next birthday on Monday. The war affects us, not only through who died, but also through who was injured and who was left behind. The repercussions of what the warriors saw and felt and experienced is theirs to carry, as well as ours to reach out and attempt to comfort, and try to understand, or at least acknowledge, respect and value. A family member of a young wounded Marine recuperating from amputations in Bethesda, mentions that the Secretary of State was there today, and it was "her first visit to the 5th floor," where the seriously wounded are recovering.
If that family member's impression was correct, the impression is that our government has some work to do, in showing practical compassion and concern for the very troops it sends into battle on behalf of a greater cause. Our concern is that they not be forgotten, dropped, neglected or otherwise shuffled aside, once they come home from the war we send them to fight. It only seems fair: the other side of the implied contract. We send you off to war: we ask you to put it all on the line, to risk everything; when you come home, we honor and take care of you for what you did, and appreciate your sacrifice. It's clear we understand "Side A" as a country; let's hope we don't fail to execute "Side B" just as fully and completely...
