A Grateful Nation ...

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."-John Fitzgerald Kennedy

My buddies at the VFW center talk a lot about WWII, even though most of them fought in Viet Nam. One veteran told me it was because he felt it was the war that actually meant something.

 field of stars at the national WWII memorial

During Viet Nam I did volunteer work for  Viet Nam Veterans Against War.  I was very young and it was both exciting and humbling to meet soldiers who had returned from the war. The war was also the beginning of my awareness of a larger world around me. It was the catalyst for my interest and involvement in politics and for my decision to never remain silent about things I felt needed changing.

"the wall" - at the Vietnam Memorial in DC

The brightest news this Veteran's Day is that the soldiers in Iraq will be home at the end of the year. Yet they come home to an economy that is the worst in decades and to already poor services that will continue to be cut. These men and women and their families should be met with jobs and healthcare and housing.

women's war memorial in DC, right next to the Viet Nam Memorial

Iraq Veterans Against War  is working to do just that. Of all the veteran groups I researched they are the only one clearly offering services to all veterans including women and soldiers from the LGBT community.

Military families can turn to Military Families Speaking Out for support.

At a time when a war veteran can be beaten by police at a peaceful demonstration (Occupy Oakland) I hope we all rise to the challenge of putting our actions where our flag waving is.

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

All About Tuesday

Don’t be scared, this post is not all about what I’m doing today.

It’s about a soldier named Luis Montalvan and a dog named Tuesday.

Captain Montalvan was injured during his second tour in Iraq. Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and three fractured vertebrae are but three of the issues that he is dealing with.

You can see Captain Montalvan talk about what happened in THIS SHORT FILM produced last year. You also get to meet Tuesday and see how he helps Luis every single day deal with things like balance problems and panic attacks and nightmares. Tuesday reminds Luis to take his meds and buffers Luis from crowds that might trigger a flashback. Before Tuesday came into his life Luis rarely left his apartment and was drinking heavily. He found the lengthy battle and wait for VA help to be so frustrating that he often just gave up.

Captain Montalvan and Tuesday were brought together with the help of Senator Al Franken and  EDUCATED CANINES ASSISTING DISABILITIES. Senator Franken has since passed a bill to create a pilot program that will get more service dogs paired with wounded soldiers.

Senator Franken talks about that in THIS CLIP.

I first learned of Captain Montalvan and Tuesday when they appeared ON LETTERMAN to promote THE BOOK he has written about his life with Tuesday. If you watch this clip you will immediately notice the difference in the Captain’s demeanor compared to the video shot a year ago. You also get to see Letterman beg Tuesday for a hug.

With all the soldiers languishing in a crappy VA benefits systems and with all the shelter dogs waiting for a home it seems to me this program is a win-win or as Senator Franken says - “We have to reform our system, and I know we will. My solution: more dogs.”

Veterans For Peace

In honor of this day I thought I would let people who know what they're talking about share their voice.

You can read more at VETERANS FOR PEACE

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
October 27, 2009

Dear President Obama,

As veterans of our nation’s wars, we insist you hear our call.

British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin spoke an unassailable truth when he said, “War would end if the dead could return.” If you believe that is true, Mr. President and Members of the House, you must heed our counsel well: we are the closest anyone can come to that truth the dead would speak. Stop the killing!

Because we personally understand what war truly means, we have written, called and demonstrated repeatedly for an end to the killing in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have protested at and have been arrested in House Office Buildings, the House Gallery, the White House and Congressional offices across the nation. We have pleaded, then demanded, that you stop the suffering in these countries. Although promised prior to the election, no combat brigades have returned from Iraq. And now we can smell the mire of escalation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nevertheless, we cannot cease to appeal to that spark of humanity in your hearts. We know wealthy, powerful interests such as weapons contractors, lobbyists and right-wing broadcasters daily make a deafening noise, trying to drown out the voice that insists, “Stop the killing.” We also know that no matter how quiet the voice of humanity might become, it can never be silenced.

So we lift up to you voices much more eloquent than our own, voices of soldiers who survived the worst fighting human beings have ever experienced, World War One. For nearly 100 years, the wisdom and compassion of their poetry has endured. Their words now stand as one of the world’s most powerful witnesses to the madness of war.

You must hear them.

…And you yourself would mutter when You took the things that once were men, And sped them through that zone of hate To where the dripping surgeons wait; And wonder too if in God's sight War ever, ever can be right.
– From “Foreword” by British ambulance driver, Robert Service

And

…If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.
– From “Dulce et Decorum est” (It is Sweet and Right to Die for Your Country) by British Army Lt. Wilfred Owen, killed a week before the 1918 Armistice.

More than that we cannot say to you, so we will address our former brothers and sisters in arms who are now our brothers and sisters in peace.

Most Sincerely,
Mike Ferner
National President
Veterans For Peace

cc: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Steny H. Hoyer, Majority Leader of the House
John Boehner, Republican Leader of the House
James E. Clyburn, House Majority Whip
Eric Cantor, Republican Whip

And on the 5th - Do Something

I spent a big part of today (Thursday the 3rd) at the VFW post.

We all got to talking about Independence Day and patriotism.

One of guys mentioned how sick he was of flag waving and bumper ribbons and endless talk of Obama wearing or not wearing a lapel pin. He’s having a really hard time with the VA and would much rather hear about that. He can’t pay his bills and he’s terribly worried about his daughter and her kids – her husband is on his second tour and she’s having a rough time holding it all together.

"Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong." – James Bryce

When he mentioned not being able to pay his bills one of the others talked about how hard it was to stick it out with his part-time job. He needed it to pay for gas and heating oil and he was damned if he was going to lose his house at this point in his life. He wondered aloud who was responsible for this mess.

“In any free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty - all are responsible”. Abraham Heschel

I said I was sick of looking backwards, unless there was going to be impeachment, I’d rather look forward and hang on to some hope for things to get better. My second job is killing me too.

“Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.” ~Lin Yutang

We drifted for a spell into a piss and moan session about gas prices and then I brought up the need to explore and invest in alternative fuel and one of the other guys talked about how it would make sense if there was help to buy a hybrid, to install solar panels. So many of us want to do these things and can’t afford to. One of the less free thinking guys said we should just drill everywhere and anywhere. A few of us tried to bring up coastal erosion and the importance of sea life and plant life but he just wanted the price of gas to go down.

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln

Someone asked what McCain’s stand on coastal drilling was and I laughed and said I assumed he believed whatever Chuck Norris told him to believe. A few chuckles, a few more chuckles than usual – they’re used to me. Plus I make great Italian food and that gets you a lot of airtime.

“McCain or Obama, they both suck, liars and self serving bastards – I don’t trust any of them” – anonymous veteran sitting next to Dianne.

"All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse." - John Quincy Adams

The beer came out but I declined. I had to drive two of the guys home and I’d already taken a pain killer for my back. I was asked about my ongoing battle with the insurance company but I wanted the mood to stay mellow so I just shrugged.

“Healthcare is falling apart, those ****ing illegals are taking this whole country down” – our town’s version of Lou Dobbs

I suggested that much of the blame for the state of healthcare rested with the large corporations that bought up hospitals and with the drug companies and the insurance conglomerates. Someone else mentioned that virtually all of the men he had served with had been born outside the US or were first generation American.

"And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home." – Ronald Reagan

I mentioned that my business was better at the moment; fewer projects were going to India and China now that years of quality issues were beginning to have noticeable effects on data validity. A few of the guys got all riled up about other countries taking our jobs and as often happens the people of those countries came under attack. I pointed out that it was American corporations getting huge incentives to establish offshore offices. I deal with the workers in these offices – they’re not getting paid fairly and they’re not getting benefits.

"He is a poor patriot whose patriotism does not enable him to understand how all men everywhere feel about their altars and their hearthstones, their flag and their fatherland." – Harry Emerson Fosdick

“So you’re gonna vote for Obama?” asked Lou Dobbs. I said I was. “And you’re sure he can be trusted?” I said I was. “And you think he can make things better?” I said I did.

“I’ll never be able to handle a President named Barack Obama” – the last statement from Lou Dobbs before the beer took over.

“My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.” Barack Obama

It was getting late and I sensed an all night poker game and PC porn fest was just dying to break out as soon as “the lady” left. On the way to the car one of the guys draped his arm around my shoulder …

“That’s the trouble today babe, nobody does anything. Have a great 4th kid. And maybe on the 5th we’ll all put down the flags we’re waving and do something” – my buddy J – 40 years as a soldier.

I got the image from Wikipedia – It is Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old WW1 veteran, attending the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He is holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in the Korean War.