A week before I deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, my wife and I volunteered for a few hours at our daughter’s elementary school. As we left, her teacher told the students that I was an officer in the Marine Corps about to leave on deployment. “A nation does not survive,” he said, “without men like that.”
It was a heartfelt statement. I thought of it often while in Afghanistan; it felt most poignant when my detachment of transport aircraft flew each one of the 119 bodies out of Helmand province between June and December 2010 to make their final trip home.… Seguir leyendo »
Jack, my co-pilot, sleeps in the passenger seat. His chin rests on my upper leg. The car in front of us wears two Support Our Troops ribbons. One is yellow; the other red, white and blue. Both are made in China. On the rear bumper is a faded black MIA sticker. That driver probably means well, but by now I’ve seen too many ribbons. While the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq kill and maim, I think of how they are also shaping the future of returning veterans. Many of these men and women will come home and go missing, and you won’t even know it.… Seguir leyendo »
Al tiempo que la guerra de Iraq entra en su sexto año, una de las repercusiones en que menos se ha reparado es la presión sobre los combatientes estadounidenses que la libran. Las fuerzas armadas estadounidenses hacen actualmente gala de un superdespliegue en el planeta: guerras en Iraq y Afganistán, a la par que otras misiones importantes en la así llamada "guerra larga" o guerra global contra el terrorismo. La guerra de Iraq se lleva la palma en número de bajas. Se ha franqueado el umbral de los 4.000 militares muertos en Iraq y hay 30.000 heridos graves.
Igual importancia reviste el hecho de que la guerra de Iraq ha dejado profundas secuelas psicológicas en numerosos soldados y oficiales.… Seguir leyendo »
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