War is Over but We'll Pay the Costs for Decades
Sad story here. Another head-shaking reminder of the glitz and showy pageantry of the 2003 Iraq War. Flags waving and hawks swooping on cable news networks, silhouetted shots of “our boys” majestically trooping their way towards benevolent destiny. Nearly ten years later, and predictably, lots of those “kids” are going to live with mental health issues for most of their lives. More importantly it goes to the root senselessness of war: in the process of training people to fight one, the military nurtures hidden impulses and states of being that are not suited for life in a modern society. It’s hard to for some people to close pandora’s box and this kind of shit happens.
I remember in 2006 I met a childhood friend of mine who had been in the first wave of the invasion. He was a medic, and one night while we were drinking he broke down crying over the things he’d seen in and around Baghdad. Last I heard he was going to train to be a doctor at Ft. Hood, I hope he’s well.
