(Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - Arlington National Cemetery)

No matter what nation you come from, nearly all of us are proud of our soldiers.  Granted, there are those out there who abuse or neglect and are thus not deserving of the honor that comes with serving one’s country.  For the most though, we may not support the war/conflict, we may not support the reasoning behind it, we may not support the moral ramifications, but most of us still support and respect the actual soldiers themselves.

They are putting their lives on the line and sometimes for a purpose which they may not even agree with.  Yet out of dedication and protection for their country and its people they put themselves in harm’s way.

But as has been discussed before , war is not for humankind.  Sure, war exists and obviously humankind is the one that initiates it, but its one of those things that is truly beyond control.  A war may end, but the scars never heal. . .

And so it is still today, as the U.S. Army recently acknowledge that suicide rates among its soldiers were as high as they were three decades ago (And guess what was happening then? . . .Vietnam).

And yet Defense Officials are so smart.  Their reasoning of cause was said to be that “. . . troops are under tremendous and unprecedented stress because of repeated and long tours of duty in the simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”  Wow, that’s a brilliant observation - you mean the cause of higher suicides might be the fact that the soldiers are at war?

And you mean to tell us that “. . .the most common factors for suicides were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues and problems on the job.”  Wonder why that might be?  Oh wait, its the fact that these men and women are diligently carrying out your agenda while their entire life collapses back home?

But wait, you mean to say that military physicians may have found the root cause as well? Boy, its a good thing we had more people on this thing. . .Apparently, physicians don’t think that the chronic health problems that veterans suffer from when they return home are necessarily mild brain trauma/concussions caused by explosions or the extreme physical demands of war that sometimes result in collisions.  No, it seems that the chronic conditions might be caused by post-traumatic stress disorder!

Go figure!  So it seems when you have to spend every waking minute watching your back and your buddies’, sleeping “with one eye open,” living in a foreign country with no connections to home, patrolling the area on either foot or vehicle with threats possible by any moving object, all while removed from your family and friends for months at end you might be stressed?  Now only if those same Defense Officials had spent a few months out in the sandbox then they would really know. . .

At least if nothing else, they are planning on spending some $300 million now to better understand post-traumatic brain disorder and traumatic brain injury. . .Sympathy certainly goes out to all soldiers, especially those in countries who do not receive any sort of treatment.

And while it is beyond easy to sit back and be cynical, which this particular post is guilty of, its not easy to sit back, however, and watch others take their lives because of circumstances plagued upon them by corrupt motivations of those in power (though it is realized not all in power are corrupt).

In the end, we should never stop trying to bandage the effects of war, but even more so, may we never stop trying to prevent war.

. . .In honor of all those who have served their country with integrity, honor, and valor, we salute you.

- IgniteTheMind