Hidden costs of the war

Justin C. Cliburn live-blogged the Winter Soldier Hearings. He had these observations about the hidden costs of the war:

I want to [say] this about the cost of the war at home: I deployed to Iraq with 150 men, not all of them were married. Since we've returned, 60 have been divorced ... over half of the married men.

[Kris] Goldsmith knew that he wanted to get out and go to college. He was about to get out of the military when George W. Bush announced "The Surge", which put 20,000-30,000 troops on Stop Loss, including Kris. The day before Kris was supposed to deploy back to Iraq, he attempted suicide with prescription pills and alcohol. After spending a week in a mental health ward, Goldsmith was discharged.

EndStopLossNow.org reports 80,000 soldiers are on Stop Loss right now.

On Kris' DD 214, it says MISCONDUCT: SERIOUS OFFENSE. The serious offense? A suicide attempt due to mental illness.

The Stop Loss program is killing our troops, physically and emotionally. These men and women lived up to their side of the bargain; it's time for the military to do the same.

The breakdown of the military includes those who got out of the military because of a matter of conscience.


As an institution, the VA has still not implemented a single recommendation from the 1980s VA report of PTSD. We won't find Jeffrey Lucie on any list of OIF/OEF casualties, but he and others like him are the forgotten veterans and forgotten casualties. 120 veterans take their lives per week while the government does one study after another without any real change.

Kevin asks, "Where is the rage?" When are we going to truly honor and support our veterans? How can we support our troops when funding for PTSD was stricken from the 2005 supplementary budget?