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The Troops are Out of Sight, Out of Mind
by Donna Teresa, Staff Writer
News is made every day, this summer is no different. Whether it is politics, entertainment, sports, local, world, national, etc. we all are consumed by it.
I do understand the attachments we place on our favorite singers, movie and sports stars etc. I have my favorites as well. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t. I suppose the articles and stories that are not "war-related" get more views and clicks. War is depressing, right?
I have received many comments from friends and e-mails asking me how I handle writing about war, because it often involves writing about loss of life. I can best answer this in the only way I know how.
My writing comes from my heart and yes, my heart does hurt often with many of these articles; it has not been easy. But, what keeps me going is the fact that if I don’t write about them who will? I’ve never lived with the assumption that someone else will do it.
My fear of America forgetting about our veterans and troops has kept me motivated through the years. I’m grateful for the other writers and reporters out there who have faithfully covered the troops and veterans during these tough times.
I am appreciative that the Monterey Herald has allowed me the chance to continue to write this column, for when they could easily have said no more and used the Web site space for something else, they have said yes. It’s important for these stories to be shared. Those of us who write have been given an incredible gift. I have tried to live up to that.
Troubling to me is the little television and Internet media attention given to the recent loss of lives suffered in the Middle East. With the recent surge in Afghanistan, there was sure to be casualties and my fears became a reality, as sadly, the number continues to go higher and with one being taken as a prisoner of war.
The troops have taken a backseat to other news items of the day. Their importance has been delegated to the bottom of a news Web site or in a small corner of a section of a newspaper on next to the last page.
Instead of taking notice of the sacrifices being made, I look to the Internet that gives big headlines that the Pentagon is considering a ban on smoking for the troops. Smoking? What’s next; take away their cup of coffee, chewing gum?
I can think of a whole laundry list of urgent issues the Pentagon should be reviewing instead of taking away personal rights of the troops like their right to a cigarette. Regardless, comments about that are for another debate, and more important, how about the same, big headlines recognizing those fallen from war?
We can give huge coverage and headlines to celebrities and sports stars, but how about our troops? I’m sure there is a percentage of men and women in uniform who enjoy their cigarettes, but quite frankly, I think they would appreciate it more if the news would cover their fallen comrades with recognition.
I would like to bring attention to the more than 5,000 American men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and the more than 33,000 who have been wounded in action. Also, please recognize the sacrifice and service of the coalition forces from Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Australia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania and South Korea.
All media coverage is a living testament that these men and women in uniform have lived and it is in their passing that they must continue to be recognized so that they are never forgotten. The troops may not always be in our sight, but they should always be in our minds. I think they’ve earned our attention.
Donna Teresa can be reached at donnateresa@sbcglobal.net
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=7931
Posted by Donna Teresa on Jul 14 2009, With 0 Reads, Filed under Support the Troops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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I agree with you 100% concerning the smokes, it is a way to deal with stress under those type of conditions. But, as we all know the resrictions put on our troops so far has cost appox 1,000 of those 5,000 lost so far and God knows how many wounded.
Congress swears up and down they are all for our troops, are they really? If so why all the resrictions? This wil only lead up to more troops taking their own lives, for they can’t drink, can’t smoke, can’t go into town and release some of that pressure. Oh but they can play checkers!!! Well maybe, depends if some liberal democrat congress person wants to take that away also.
You know, the Clinton admin cause 9/11 just by pure neglect with the Intell system (the same one under attack by who? the liberals and democrats) Then Clinton admin pass on that bad intell to Bush and not telling him it was bad, now John Kerry knew for he sat in the intell committee and thats why he flip-flop on his vote he knew that intell was bad (John Kerry at time even stated we didn’t need intell and if he ever made President he would do away with it, some kind of American right)
Also as you recall Clinton and his admin swore up and down that Iraq had WMD’s right to and include 2003 and most of the democrats voted to go into Iraq, then, and I repeat then CALL BUSH a liar about the Intell and it was all his fault.
They knew that Intell was bad!!! And went ahead and voted to go into Iraq JUST TO GET AT BUSH and damn our troops…Then when Bush would not bend, they started with the resrictions on how our troops fought (just like Vietnam and I’m a Vietnam vet so I know first hand, and my son went into Iraq in 2004)
Rumsfield was a screw up, I’ll give you that, but you must take into concern that the Generals in place at the time of Iraq and Afgan were Clintons Generals, and they couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag, let lone run a war, so one by one Bush had to replace these worthless Generals and put War Fighters Generals in and they DID get the job done even with the resrictions place on our troops.
Then when the big surge came, the liberals and democrats swore AGAIN it wouldnt work, why? Because of all the resrictions place on our troops, they said how can it work? Well, Bush put a War Fighter in charge and he got the job done…proven fact…
And now they have started with more resrictions in Afgan in hows again of pinning it on Bush, Obama will never take the fall for it I can assure you of that.
And thanks to our worthless Speaker of house would is about to close the doors on the CIA are Intell will be gone…( I guess Kerry wins).
Then where are we? Wide open to attack…The idiots in charge up there now are going to destroy Amercia one brick at a time, and they are doing a damn fine job of it…
GEE you must be a repubilcan since you seem to get your talking points from faux news. they are all screwed up. The Clinton admin told BUSH in Aug that Al Queda was going to attack His response ” OK you covered your ass” and sent the guy away!!!!!! and those Clinton Generals were also Bush the elders generals he promoted them from Col…… Bush the idiot put a “War fighter in charge” as long as he did what Bush said. Got the job done ? not even yet . Sorry no “mission accomplished” We will be there for at least 10 more years. and be there because of a lie that Bush the idiot and the DICK told to America
You completely missed the mark with this comment on THIS article… ASS
It really infuriates me when a Celebrity passes, from whatever. But what gets me even more is that the media goes all gushy over them, but do they pay ANY attention to our TROOPS? Only when there is some blood spilled!
I am a proud member of Operation MOM, and we support our Troops, and wouldn’t consider stopping! All this junk about a Celebrity makes some of us sick, and we wish it would stop and NOW!
I enjoy reading about what is going on in Veterans Affairs. I have sent many hundreds of generic letters to our TROOPS, in boxes that we send. I have gotten a reply from a soldier in Iraq, and answer him proudly and with as much respect I can give to our TROOPS. It shouldn’t be only a few pray, and hope that our TROOPS, everywhere are safe, but many more people should be thinking of them (TROOPS) for the Freedoms we have and enjoy!!
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
What a gift from our Husbands in Heaven to have this beloved Prophetic Gift write what is not being written about – we can share with our Wounded Warriors Incarcerated and they will be blessed, as we are.
The War Widows
Veteransjustice@aol.com
http://www.veteranschamberofcommerce.org in process out of date
Donna youre wrong. The Iraq war is in everyones sight and mind.
USA incorporated just wants you to ignore it.
Youre firtunate youre post wasnt deleted by king Gordon Duff III.
Ms. Donna. I answer this way;
11/10/00
YEAH- I KNEW HIM
The “DUKE”(John Wayne) in “THE FLYING LEATHERNECKS” said it best when he found out that one of his buddies had “brought the farm” (KIA- killed in action),”Yeah- I knew him”.
Yeah–I knew him. I knew of his dreams, his loves, his
wish to be in the arms of his family. To be working on his hot rod, instead of beng a “tunnel rat”. To be at the ballpark cheering on the Dodgers or whoever, instead of doing a “body count” in some jungle.
Yeah–I knew him. To be on the beach enjoying the sun, surf, the girls and having a few cold ones, not waiting in a damn rice paddy on an ambush. To be home at Christmas time singing carols in the snow, instead on a LRRP or on a search and destory mission.
Yeah–I knew him. Holding his newborn child in his arms and looking at his wife in love and wonderment. Not screaming out in terror in the middle of the night because of some nightmare that happened today or a dozen years ago.
Yeah–I knew him. Late at night, in the bunker drinking hot beer, talking about things and girls. Maybe the women we loved, going steady with, married to or just got a “Dear John” from. Remembering her pretty eyes, the way she made love, the way she kisses, maybe how she could make us feel to beside her or away from her.
Yeah–I knew him. knocking the grand slam at the softball game, selling that new car to the newlywed couple, planting the last seed on the north 40, instead of holding on to his closest buddy, making his last moments in this hellhole the best, sharing his last smoke because’s no way to save him.
Yeah–I knew him. Everytime I light a square, because he left his “Zippo” to me, the one he brought at the PX and engraved “Joe Ragman- Nam, II Corps, War Zone C”. My mind flashes back to those days.
Yeah–I knew him. As I knock on his parent’s, wife’s or girl-
friend’s door, to pay my last respects. Telling how we were friends, how he felt about the war, how much he wanted to be back home. As I gave them his last letter, which he had not mailed. I saw their eyes fill with anger, hurt, tears and then the questions. Damn ?’s
Yeah–I knew him. As I stared into his face that’s lost
forever in the never-never land of the V.A. Hospital and drugs. He never came home as Joe Ragman, but as a zombie. Lost forever somewhere in that last firefight, dancing the “Thorazine shuffle”.
Yeah–I knew him. As the friend who lives under the bridge
or deep in the woods. Scraping an existence off Mother
Nature or out of the dumpster of Burger King or grocery stores. Hiding out to escape the stares, the haterd, and
the ugliness of the war. Staying loaded to kill the pain,
the loneliness, the desperation of life.
Yeah–I knew him. As I walked among the rows of white headstones in the “Garden of Stones” looking at all of the names, dates and places. I look at “The Wall” finding and touching your name. I remember the good and bad times, the hopes, the dreams. I cry, not in sadness, but in hope that “This Wall” shall be the last memorial to those who fought in a war. In a war where all sides, the Victor and the Vanquish, lost. There are no winners in a war.
Yeah–I knew him. Here’s to you, Buddy, to your memory, to honor you, to remember you and love you. “Sleep in peace, comrade dear, God is nigh”*
Respectfully Submitted
Ben E. Weihrich, Jr.
Ben Weihrich
USMC ’69-’75
Proud grad Of “Saigon U”
SEMPER FI
Well said
2/32 arty RVN 66-67
I knew him as well and cannot forget the tears shed by me at the traveling wall. My daughter found my name there in 1989 and came home crying because her classmates did not believe her. I was removed from the wall when it was corrected. I knew him as the man overboard from the Hancock and was never found whos parents know they burried an empty box. I knew him in the heat and steam of an engine room or boiler room and the blood sent overboard so we could continue firing and killing in the jungle. And when I held his hand as we reached for the sky with a body board and left him there as we could not bring him home.
I know we all reach a point where the knowing and the rage and the tears mix and slurry togather and only the rage is left for those who do not care or see why they should.
It is terrible to watch as the media makes fools of themselves falling all over eachother to get closer to another celebrity and their families during their worst time in life all the while loosing sight of the true issues and news. Since MJ’s death we have lost 32 of America’s sons with bearly a mention on the TV. How sad is this when we are reduced to searching out the information and pass on the word to others known to care, are we their only witnesses?
Tom Poole
RI Patriot Guard Riders
Ride Captain / Acting Administrator
I wish the networks would send at least 10% of the coverage of Jackson on the troops. Liked his songs but now I’m beginning to hate the guy. ENOUGH allready
CONGRESS’S EXPERIMENTS CONTINUE?
Despite the efforts of some members of Congress, do the Department of Defense (DOD) U.S. Senate proven experiments continue?[8] In 2006 the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) was signed into law..[10] In 2009, under its “NATIONAL SECURITY MISSIONS”, now also continued on civilians are these DOD on Veterans lessons learned?
In 2009 the U..S. Congress still has not corrected the U.S. Senate’s 1994 then reported 50 years of DOD policy. This is their many “experiments that were designed to harm” conducted on “hundreds of thousands” of U.S. Military personnel.[8] Veterans still do not have the “Right to Know”! The “Veterans Right to Know Act” to establish the Veterans’ Right to Know Commission was proposed in the 2005 and H.R. 4259 [109th] 2006 Congress.[9] It never became law. All consistent with a few in Congress’s 1988 established severely restricted Veteran’s Court. This is confirmed is its Chief Judge’s “The court may not review the schedule of ratings for disabilities or the policies underlying the schedule.”, i.e., the needed for treatment evidence.[7] Effectively given to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the Judicial Branch’s final authority on questions of law; 511(a)![5] These experiments were performed under the secrecy cover of our past wars. They were in direct disobedience of the DOD Secretary’s 1953 TOP SECRET order that was unclassified in 1975.[2] Then and since known by the Secretary’s of all Services, Joint Chiefs of Staff, the DOD Research and Development (R&D) Board and the U.S. Congress.
“IT WAS NECESSARY “TO CONCEAL THESE ACTIVITIES FROM THE AMERICAN PUBLIC IN GENERAL,” BECAUSE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE” UNETHICAL AND ILLICIT ACTIVITIES WOULD HAVE SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS IN POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC CIRCLES AND WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL TO THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF ITS MISSION.” Footnote 4, U.S. Supreme Court 1987 STANLEY military experiments case, Page 688.[3] This case confirms their FERES Doctrine [1] decision that correction is through the U.S. Congress. After STANLEY Congress passed the 1988 Veterans’ Judicial Review Act (VJRA). Established was the Legislative, Article I severely restricted, Veteran’s Court with Congress’s “The court may not review the schedule of ratings for disabilities or the policies underlying the schedule.” The Veterans Court Chief Judge’s no teeth statement.[7]
Each deliberate “to harm” project completes the R&D process. Prior R&D is reviewed. The resulting Scope of Work defines what each experiment is “designed” to accomplish. The how, where, when and who is identified. The conducted RESEARCHED cause and effects are closely followed and recorded. From the results are DEVELOPED safe production, use, treatment and protection.
The needed for treatment, experimentation revealing evidence is: 1. Not in a subject’s Medical History, so that they never the wiser become. And 2. The resulting alerting disabilities are not in the VA “schedule of ratings for disabilities”! There is no from 1944 [8] 65 years later, “Veterans Right to Know…”. After honorable service Congress still has not given back to veterans those rights that convicted rapists and murderers keep![6]
GIVEN THE U. S. CONGRESSIONAL, NOW 65 YEAR [8], PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR, DO NOT THE EXPERIMENTS CONTINUE UNDER THE COVER OF OUR PRESENT WARS??
REFERENCES:
[1] 1950 – Feres v. United States , 340 U.S. 135, 146 (1950).
[2] 1953 – DOD Secretary’s 26 February 1953 NO non-consensual, human experiment’s Memo pages 343-345. George J. Annas and Michael A. Grodin, “The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code; Human Rights in Human Experimentation” (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992). In REFERENCE [6] as NOTES 72, 168 & 169..
[3] 1987 – U.S. SUPREME COURT, JUNE 25, 1987, U.S. V. STANLEY , 107 S. CT. 3054 (VOLUME 483 U.S. , SECTION 669, PAGES 699 TO 710). In REFERENCE [8] cited in NOTE 169.
[4] 1988 – Veterans’ Judicial Review Act (VJRA), Pub. L. No. 100-687, Div. A, 102 Stat. 4105 (8 December 1988)
[5] “United States Code (USC) Title 38, 511. Decisions of the Secretary; finality.” http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode38/uscsec3800000511—-000-.html
[6] 1994 – U.S. State Dept., ” U.S. Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights July 1994, Article 7″.
[7] 1994 – Chief Judge and colleague statements, Court of Veterans Appeals, Annual Judicial Conference, Fort Meyer, VA., 17 & 18 October 1994. http://www.firebase.net/state_of_court_brief.htm
[8] 1994 – December 8, 1994 REPORT 103-97 “Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans’ Health? Lessons Spanning Half a Century.” Hearings Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 103rd Congress 2nd Session. With NOTES 1 to 170.
[9] 2005 & 2006 – “Veterans Right to Know Act” to establish the Veterans’ Right to Know Commission was proposed in the 2005 and H.R. 4259 [109th] 2006 Congress.
[10] 2006 – Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Bill S. 3678 2006. Signed into law 16 December 2006.