It is easy to forget that it has been more than a year since we sent our young men and women into battle in Iraq. At the time, much was made of how we on the home front should support the troops on the front lines. Since then, a thousand of these brave men and women have lost their lives. The grief is overwhelming. Each one has a story that needs to be told--of courage, patriotism, fear, love and desire to serve one's country.
Just as devastating, though, are the thousands of wounded soldiers who are returning from Iraq. Their names are rarely mentioned, the nature of their injuries are consigned to the back pages of newspapers. But for all of them, their lives and the lives of their families will never be the same.
Most of the severely wounded and the amputees are brought to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Our government is doing a great deal to help these wounded soldiers and their families, and the staff is to be commended for their dedication. These soldiers have also received more public attention than was the case in earlier wars. But as a nation there is a lot more each one of us can do to welcome these brave young people home. Regardless of our personal feelings about the war, these men and women have laid their lives on the line on our behalf. For that we owe them a great debt.
My wife and I recently visited Walter Reed and were able to meet some of these soldiers. We met one Marine and two Army servicemen. They had lost their arms and legs and one could only breathe from a respirator. Their lives have been changed forever--they will never play with their children or mow their lawns again. But their determination, patriotism and faith are incredible. All three of them want to go back to Iraq as soon as possible to support their friends and comrades. They were all eager to tell their stories and how they were wounded. They were happy to have someone beside them who listened and cared. Each one of them had lost close friends in action.
Already at least 6,000 severely wounded soldiers have come home from Iraq. There will be more. We have hardly begun to feel their presence, but over the next years we will see them in towns and cities across America. Such wounds are a burden that few can bear. Families will be broken. Many returning soldiers will be abandoned and rejected. They will discover that the skills they learned in the military are of little use in civilian life. Many will go through deep anger and bitterness toward the society that sent them to war.
How can we be sure that these men and women with their broken bodies are not a burden but a precious gift to our country? How can we keep them from slipping off our radar screens and make sure that their sacrifice is honored, not only this year, but for the rest of their lives? God forbid that they suffer the same fate as the Vietnam veterans who continue to line up outside the soup kitchens and drug clinics of our country.
Before the war each one had their dreams and ambitions. Many had married shortly before they were deployed. Now their whole world has collapsed. We have to help them to come to grips with this huge change in their lives. We have to help them to forgive and accept themselves and all of us who sent them to war. That way, they can use their own personal tragedies to teach others.
There are two recoveries. The first is that the physical body recovers and begins to function again normally. For many of them this will take months if not years. In many other cases a full physical recovery will never happen. Yet much more important is the spiritual recovery, the healing of the emotional scars that the war has inflicted on them. This can only be tackled with love, patience, listening and prayer, one person at a time.
It was a privilege to spend time with three of these men. I was on the receiving end; they were teaching me much more than I could ever give them. As they return to society, each one of us will have chances to learn from these veterans. Let's not miss them. These men and women can become our nation's greatest asset. However, this will only happen if we help them to see that their bruised bodies are nothing to be ashamed of. There is so much they can contribute to society simply by telling their stories. We must be ready to listen.
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