Our military legacy- a mounting toll

This spring I went to two graduations, one high school commencement in Maine and one graduate school ceremony in Boston. What was striking in both speeches was the similar topic- the emphasis on veterans’ sacrifice, level of hurt and need in this country right now.

The guest speaker at Massachusetts School of Professional Psychiatry’s graduation was Tammy Duckworth, a veteran from the Iraq war, Black Hawk pilot, current congresswoman and double amputee.

She discussed the tremendous psychological toll the injuries have on returning vets. 100's no 1,000's of men and women learning how to walk, feed themselves and reinvent their lives after serious injuries.

She described one fellow patient at Walter Reed who spent 16 months playing video games in his room. “This isn’t who I am,” he told her one night when neither of them could sleep. “I’m a lieutenant in the army, a star athlete- not someone without any legs sitting in a hospital room.”

Duckworth herself after over two-dozen surgeries and 13 months of rehab has a new career in politics and is back flying private planes. The psychology graduates were urged to dedicate themselves to caring for veterans suffering from PTSD or myriad other illnesses. And to be creative about providing this care, so it is readily available for all veterans who need it.

The speaker at the high school graduation, a popular health teacher and basketball coach, spoke simply and with a few well-received sport's metaphors. He encouraged the new graduates to work hard and be determined in their goals using the story of a young wounded veteran who in the time these students were in high school fought in Afghanistan, was severely wounded and then rehabbed in the states, exhibiting grueling determination and courage to recover.

The parallel topic of these two speakers reinforces how profoundly this country is being impacted by our military’s continual intervention around the world. The antiwar era I grew up in has been replaced with a country dedicated to its military and national security.

War amputees and brain injured veterans are spurring new research advancements in prosthesis and trauma treatment. While we can be glad for that, we created the need for it.

Each year I have students who celebrate enlisting in the military. They see it as an opportunity for an education, a job, and a moral need to protect America. I remember one bright senior I taught who was determined to be a land mine detonator.  I respectfully spoke to him about how dangerous the military was as a career path and suggested college instead. 

He was killed in Afghanistan. Then I taught his younger brother and saw the pain and cost of that loss on a daily basis.

My students speak knowledgably about the effects of PTSD on their dads, uncles, and grandfathers who fought in the Korean War or Vietnam and how jumpy older friends are who return from the newest wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.They know what it is like living with a veteran still struggling with the effects of combat experiences.

I cannot imagine the physical and psychological trauma veterans are returning home with and the long struggles they have adjusting.  Will we as a country take care of them for the duration?

An equally important question is if there isn’t an alternative way to invest the skills and energy of our young people than sending them to war.