Many reminders of war’s tragedies
The wounds reflect the kind of war it is. The roadside bombs “shred and shatter the arms and legs,” the Chicago Tribune reports, as well as send shrapnel underneath helmets, causing head injuries that might last a lifetime. The insurgents’ homemade bombs burn severely and car bombs pack their own brand of explosive horror.
As in any war, limbs have been lost. And the psychological problems will linger for some for decades. The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq was reported at 8,016 in figures released recently by the Pentagon. This is double what it was six months ago.
A somber figure for a somber Veterans Day.
In peace-time years, Veteran’s Day celebrations have been easier and lighter, commemorated with flags and parades and ceremonies and remembrances of wars past. But now, there is a gravitas to the legal holiday because the war in Iraq is with us every day in headlines, TV news coverage and in the debates about the wisdom of the effort there.
This year, when veterans speak of past wars, they are also speaking of the present. And when veterans tell us of the emotional and physical burdens they carried throughout their lives because of war, they are providing a road map for the future.
The men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan now are the veterans of the future. Their needs cannot be neglected now or neglected in coming decades when Iraq and Afghanistan are reduced to chapters in the history books.
The veterans’ needs will be expensive. National legislators, to their credit, are already acknowledging this.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations recently recommended a $66 billion budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill also contains a new $20 million “Prosthetics and Integrative Health Care Initiative” to treat returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan who have lost limbs in combat.
The Senate report stated that the committee is “deeply committed to the care of our newest veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA has already treated more than 21,000 returning soldiers, and the numbers will continue to grow. Advances in body armor and improved combat health care are saving lives on the battlefield. But many soldiers are returning with lost limbs and other very severe and lasting injuries.
“In addition, many returning soldiers also bear less visible, psychological wounds of war. The Committee believes that the VA must provide these veterans with the best of both modern medicine and integrative holistic therapies for rehabilitation.”
Senate and House members are expected to consider the bill when they return to Congress next week.
Nov. 11 was declared Armistice Day in 1919 by President Wilson. This evolved into the Veterans Day of modern time. The day was founded in the belief that Americans should be reminded of the tragedies of war.
Unfortunately this year, those reminders are everywhere.