In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. – Jose Narosky
According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, more than 400 British soldiers were left behind from their battalions’ trips to Iraq and Afghanistan because they were “unfit to deploy”.
Long term sickness and injury has resulted in around one in every 14 of the soldiers that were sent to the two countries who could not be cleared for combat. I thought about this and contemplated what it actually must be like to be in a war zone.
We all complain about our work in some form but the majority of us will never have to be on the look out for a wave of missiles, bullets and soldiers from the other side trying to end our lives. We have all heard of Gulf War Syndrome and I believe that someone experience the horrors of war would have to come as a changed person.
You would not look at life the same way again and you may not look at those around in the same way again because only the people the lived with you and died in that war zone will fully comprehend what it was like.
I do not support the idea of war, I think it is too easy for leaders to sign a document, make a call or push a button and create a nightmare scenario where many lives will be lost. However to those soldiers who take part in a war I have much respect for what they do and how brave they are.
Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world’s problems?
From the cartoon strip Calvin & Hobbes
In 2001, a survey by the Department of Veterans Affairs of 15,000 U.S. Gulf War combat veterans and 15,000 control veterans found that the Gulf War veterans were 1.8 (fathers) to 2.8 (mothers) times as likely to report having children with birth defects. Previous studies have shown that veterans’ illnesses are neurological and apparently are linked to exposure to neurotoxins, such as the nerve gas sarin, the anti-nerve gas drug pyridostigmine bromide, and pesticides that affect the nervous system.
Sometimes illness can simply be in the mind but at the same time that is the worst place for it to be; alongside all the other nightmares and memories from the period where a soldier had done their tour of duty.
We can be fragile while we are strong and all the strength that is built up can be crushed within a matter of moments. I wish we could come up with a better way to solve these kind of problems, but maybe this is something that will always be around…unfortunately.
Monday, February 4th, 2008 and is filed under Pain and suffering, Thoughts & Questions.
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Phil Oglesby Says:
From a retired American warrior: I would say the effect of combat on warriors is varied and well reflected in the statistic of one in fourteen British soldiers being unfit for deployment. It is an intensely stressful endeavor even when not under combat conditions and that even minimally involves long separation from family and loved ones. That being said, it can also bring an inner peace in a way that only being under duress with comrades can bring to the mind and heart. I’ve read that Plato once said only the dead have seen the last of war. Was this not a most prescient statement for the ages? If so, our only best hope is to lobby our governments to adhere to a Just War theory so that warfare is a case of last resort. While evil stalks the earth, warfare will continue to be a concomitant necessary evil, I think. That means it is imperative for our society to properly prepare our warriors, for in the end, they will always be a somewhat filtered reflection of our own society with all it’s strengths and weaknesses. We owe it to our warriors to ensure they are as fit for duty as possible, for they may be called upon to demonstrate that greatest love where he or she must lay down their life for a stranger. Likewise, we cannot afford to place weapons and authority into the hands of the troubled and morally challenged who may seek military service for the wrong reasons. Our warriors often become the most intimate ambassadors of our own culture to the outside world. This is very, very important to understand. We must do right by them. And so it is critical that society properly select, train, equip, and organize our armed forces and honor those who return as best we can. A simple “thank you” goes a very long way, too. May God keep and protect our military members.
February 10th, 2008 at 12:10 am