Copyright © 2012 by
Ralph Couey
World War II was a watershed event in American history. 16.5 million American troops served in
theaters across the globe, from the bitter cold and snow at Bastogne to the
heat-blasted coral island of Peleliu in the Pacific. 416,837 died, 683,846 were wounded. But for those who survived physically, the
specter of war remained. What was then
called “combat fatigue” is now widely known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,
or PTSD became the silent ghost that haunted veterans decades after the war
ended. A study in 1992 estimated that as
many as 56% of combat soldiers who came home carried with them the effects of
too many bombs and bullets, and too many memories of good friends torn to
pieces on the battlefield.
The American participation in the war, from Pearl Harbor in
December 1941 to Tokyo Bay in September 1945, lasted 3 years and 9 months.
Our modern-day soldiers fought in Iraq from March 2003 until
December 2011, 8 years and 9 months.
They have been fighting in Afghanistan for over 10 years. With the Army seemingly running out of
soldiers, some veterans have been ordered back for their fourth year-long
deployment.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was one such soldier. By all accounts, he was a great guy, a
devoted family man, and the quintessential “Sgt. Rock” to the soldiers he
led. We may never know what prompted his alleged act. But one thing is certain. The good man, the loving father and husband,
the superb leader he was will now be forgotten.
He will be remembered instead as a killer who took the lives
of 16 Afghani civilians.
I ache for those who died and for their families. But I also ache for SSGT Bales and his
family. He should never have been there.
Humans are not perfect, and soldiers are not invulnerable. There is only so much violence and stress
someone can endure before their mind fails them.
After 9/11, we went to war in the Middle East. Since then, Iraq’s government has changed and
while the road ahead still looks rocky and strewn with potholes, it would
appear that their future is a good deal brighter. Afghanistan, though, is harder to quantify.
The Taliban were almost defeated, but seem to have mounted a
bit of a comeback. Now that the
withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces has a firm date, the Jihadists can now
await our departure before resuming their drive towards victory. Nobody seems to know whether the government
of Hamid Karzai will be able to resist the inevitable attacks.
America has, to date, sacrificed some 1,800 dead and 10,000
wounded in Afghanistan in the hopes that the Afghani people could hold their own
destiny firmly in hand. If the Karzai
government loses that fight, then that cost will have been paid in vain.
While combat may end next year, for those who suffer from
PTSD, the war will go on for the rest of their lives. Yes, we’ve expended billions of dollars in
that conflict. But the value of our
soldiers goes beyond mere currency. We
sent them, and they have been used up. Because
of that cost, it’s time for us, We The People, to begin to ask the hard
questions.
American troops have served, and continue to serve across
the globe. Whenever conflict erupts in a
strategically important place, the call is sounded for America to send her soldiers,
sailors, airmen and marines to quell the violence. For the last few weeks, you could hear the
cry over the tragedy in Syria, as government forces indiscriminately
slaughtered civilians. But we have to
ask if sending our troops into such a cauldron would fundamentally change
anything. Is it the moral choice to send
our young men and women into impossible situations minus an exit strategy to
operate under orders that are fuzzy, at best?
And why us? Is America the only
country on the planet with this moral imperative to stop conflict?
American troops, the finest and bravest ever assembled in
the history of the world, are not the “fix-it” tool for every international
tragedy. They are courageous and
dedicated humans who have their limits, and those limits have been
reached. They have given all they can. Bring them home; keep them home. Let them heal.
As John Kennedy said during the Cuban Missile Crisis, “Our
power is not infinite. We have
limits.”
Perhaps it is time for the
world to learn how to take care of itself.
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