As Seen on TV: War

Iraq vets and post-traumatic stress: No easy answers

As all of us non-military Americans go about our daily lives there are thousands of soldiers spending years in a desert fighting for our country in a war we probably shouldn't have gotten into in the first place. I can't even imagine having to spend day in and day out on edge wondering what was going to happen next. I truly can't even understand how these young men and women put up with the stress that they do.

Back here in America, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars/occupations have been pretty much put on the back burner. The government tries to limit the images (like pictures of soldiers' caskets) and information that we receive so that we don't turn sour on "fighting for freedom". The wars don't really seem to have much affect on the lives of families who don't have someone in service. We're not really being asked to sacrifice like people were during World War I and II. Heck, our politicians are even telling us we should be giving tax cuts to the rich during a time that we are running a healthy deficit and borrowing from other countries to keep ours running. The wars that are going on just aren't our top priority right now.

The economy is the big issue now. Which brings us to the next problem. With all the recent reports of job cuts and increases in unemployment... isn't it great to know that our soldiers who served this country are going to come home to daunting job prospects? Remember what happened after the Vietnam war? Too many of our veterans ended up receiving lackluster medical and psychological care, job opportunities and support. I really hope we've learned our lessons from that and these young men and women are treated with respect and dignity when they return. This means giving them the care and support they need to transition back into society, regardless of the cost. If we're going to spend billions and billions of dollars to send them over there to fight this war, we better be willing to spend what it takes to bring them back in the best fashion as possible.