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Opinions expressed by Brother Bubba are solely his own and are not intended to reflect the official opinions or policies of the Order of the Legion of St. Michael, its apostolates, members, benefactors, or constituents.
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War: The Names Change, The Wounds are the Same 11:09 PM
TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
For my father's generation the war was Korea. My father spent almost three years as a POW in that war at the hands of the Communist Chinese. For my generation the war was Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos (Southeast Asia). Today's generation is fighting the war in the Middle East. Three wars, three different names, three different locations, three different generations but yet it is the same. The same death, the same destruction, the same wounds, the same consequences.
But, there is something different in this current war. Veterans of the wars in the Middle East have a higher suicide rate than veterans of Korea or Vietnam. What is the difference?
We send these brave soldiers in hell and then bring them back home. Just as they are beginning to get settled in to real life, the military yanks them away from the world and sends them back into hell. This goes on time after time. It is a kind of torture.
The worst of these victims of a yo-yo game are those who come back and expect to get out of the military because their enlistment is up. They present themselves for what they think will be a discharge with thoughts of home in the world at last and no fear of war only to be hit broadside with forced retention and re-deployment to hell. It is called Stop-Loss (see wikipedia article).
Since September 11, 2001 more than 650,000 soldiers have served in the Middle East. Around 100,000 soldiers have be stop-lossed.
This yo-yo effect of hell, world, hell, world, hell world can mess up any one's head. To be forced to remain in the military and re-deployed is more than anyone should be expected to take.
This Stop-Loss is really a form of back-handed draft. These men have not volunteered for another tour of duty and have not even volunteered to re-enlist. Their enlistment is over and they want out. The government forces them to remain. That is no different than a draft.
In my time we had a draft in the usual sense of the word, but at least if we were drafted we served one tour in-country and returned to the world. There was no second or third tour unless we wanted it.
Our soldiers now are in the torture of limbo. It seems like the war will never end and they will never be home. The box in their head where they keep the thoughts and memories of their dead and mutilated buddies and the other horrors of war fills and overflows and some of them cannot take it anymore. Many have held on to their sanity knowing that they can stay home only to be forced back into hell.
I recommend watching the movie, Stop Loss. It will show the Iraqi War from the soldier's point-of-view and the confusion and horror being Stop-Lossed.
