On a limb with Claudia

Poor guy, please let him know that dude in Jersey thanks him for his service.

That is so terribly sad. Just so terribly sad. When I flew in and out of Atlanta twice a week in 2006, I saw hundreds of active duty guys, and I always talked to them. They were on their third or fourth deployment, were only home for a month, and were back out again for a YEAR. Not six months. Not nine months. Sometimes more than a year. And they had to fly standby, which meant that sometimes they had to sleep overnight in the airport, while us plats wouldn’t give up our seat (not me; I gave them my first class bumps), but unfortunately, most of them had to fly United, not American , so I didn’t get a chance to give up my seat very often.

It’s so sad. And their stories were so sad. I always listened; always supported them, and was always interested in what they had to say.

Oh man…this fucking war…

God that’s painful.

I read the story you linked to. And it started with this quote:

“Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day.”

Which seems a little bit of a misleading statistic.

It’s not awful just the same, don’t get me wrong.

FuriousBall – High Five. Me too.

Absurdist – Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s hard to comprehend the sheer number of these guys.

Fabbie – Yes. Not just the war, but the lack of jobs, financial support from our gov’t, relationship issues. It’s almost better to be there. (and yes, I’ve heard that before.)

Miss Britt – Kind of. If you go from less than one to more than five, that’s a five hundred percent increase. Right? But I get what you mean.

We let them down emotionally and spiritually and financially. It’s appalling…..lest we forget.

This is a very powerful post Claudia. It’s a good kick in the awareness pants for all of us.

my heart goes out to him and the others. I’ve thought about that..after having seen what they’ve seen and then trying to integrate into a so-called normal life again. How does one deal with that?

I’m glad you posted this. Its definitely a great insight to what our soldiers go through when they return home.

I had a friend who served in the army for four years and when he returned he was lost. He worked in a movie rental joint and as a waiter and after 4 months he re-enrolled himself. I don’t talk to him any longer now but I hear he repeats this process every few years. He doesn’t know how to do anything else so he keeps diving in. If only he realized how appreciated he is.

Awareness – Yes. They need real support, not cheerleaders.

Claudia – The key to trauma, as with all life, is what does it mean to the individual. People go through existential crisis after leaving the service and there are few people who can really help them with it. Reviewing the trauma does not help – only determining what the experience means to the individual, about the individual. That’s what heals.

I am so sorry. I am against America’s involvement in these wars but the men do deserve better…… a lot better.

So sad. So very wrong. No matter how we feel about the war, those who sacrifice their lives for the rest of us deserve no less than our immense gratitude and kindness.

Jill – We must have been writing at the same time. Yes, that’s a solution to the existential crisis – a crisis of meaning – or “who am I?” What horrifying to me is that so few people, professionals, can help or know how to help. It’s very sad. I bet your friend is a good soldier though….

Squirrelly – Yes. They. Do.

Heart in SF – I agree. And real help – again, not cheer leading, real honest to goodness help in getting good paying jobs, for their relationships and on and on.

My next door neighbor came to the U.S. from China when he was 14. He earned a B.S. and an M.S. in Computer Science, and during the economic downturn, joined the Air Force. Although he is a citizen of the United States, and holds a top secret clearance now because of his work, he was denied entry to the Officer’s Program, because he came from China. So, he learned to fixed airplanes, and spent his first tour of duty at the Bagdad Airport, the airport in Afghanistan, and one in Kuwait, fixing military planes.

I also got to explain religion to him, since the military almost requires their troops to attend some sort of service, evidently, and I got e mail from him asking what religion was all about, and was it also hierarchical, and did it pay the head if he or she brought in more people. And last, did any of them have an advantage if you were under fire.

He still lives next door, and he is worried that he may have to go back again. I have taken him to dinner several times, we talk a lot. What’s good is that we talk more about computer science than Iraq unless it’s talking about how stupid the Military can be.

Absolutely heartbreaking. I could cry.

The CEO – Good for you for reaching out to someone. This is exactly the kind of support that’s needed – mandatory, really. And it occurs to me, that if we had real community in the US, maybe this wouldn’t be such a major issue…. hmmm As always, you make me think.

Christy – Me too.

PER DAY!?!? that’s horrendous!! utterly outrageous!!

[...] I approach the front desk, the new front desk manager (red-haired cow) is bitching at the ex-Marine clerk. As I approach, she pierces her lips and says, “I just want to make sure we have your [...]

My sister married the most wonderful man, who happens to be a soldier. After the wedding they had a small gathering in the church gym for cookies, cake, and drinks. When everyone was leaving, we started to clean up. The bride and groom stayed to help, since it was early afternoon, and they wanted to help. We had a lot of balloons, and not thinking my uncle started popping them all. The groom had to leave because he started to freak out a bit. Watching him retreat from the gym with tears in his eyes was the most heartbreaking thing.

We had a gym full of balloons until they left.

He is still in the army, but I can only imagine what it is going to be like when he is back, doing civilian work. It’s sad to see how it breaks down people. Very very sad.