Commonality of pain

Commonality of pain
November 12, 2010 posted by Chaplain Kathie ·
If you hear someone say they have an abscess tooth, you understand how much pain they are in even if you’ve never had one, you have had a tooth ache.
If you hear someone say they have a sinus infection, you understand how much pain they are in with the pressure building in their head and their body is drained of energy.
Even if you have managed to escape these problems you can understand because we talk about them making them so common, the level of pain is associated with our own common experiences. Yet if someone says they are suffering because they were in the military, we tend to not connect to their experiences, avoid conversations and feel as if there is no way we can ever understand what it is like for them. The truth is, we can all understand it once we think of what we have in common with them.

Vietnam War Fallen
Look at this picture and you see a grunt gently holding a fellow warrior’s head in his arms. There are many moments of gentleness in combat. Love and compassion do live on even in the atmosphere of brutality. People don’t just die in war. They are shot. They are blown up. Even in the midst of this there are still moments when the human spirit rises above it all.
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Commonality of pain

If you think we can't change the way they come home, just think that we can reach around the world and here's some proof of that.

This is from Google stats on this blog for Oct 12 to Nov 12

Pageviews by Countries United States 9,814 United Kingdom 545 Canada 507 Germany 405 France 238 Netherlands 224 Russia 188 Ukraine 115 Australia 100 Indonesia 60

PTSD book review turns into sharing moment for reporter

'Lethal Warriors': When PTSD Makes Soldiers Self-Destruct
LEAH CARROLL

Leah Carroll has written book reviews for Publishers Weekly and TheRumpus and has been published in the New York Times.

NOV 11 2010, 11:00


In the summer of 1997 I drove with my father from Rhode Island to Washington, D.C. to visit the Vietnam memorial. We left in the middle of the night. I dangled my feet out the passenger side window. My father gave off fumes of whiskey as he drove. We arrived just as the sun was rising over the Capitol and made our way to the Wall.

We stayed for about an hour. Around us, men in motorcycle jackets pressed paper to the wall and delicately traced the names of friends who had not survived the conflict. Standing behind us was a man in an impeccable suit. He wept behind mirrored Ray-Bans.

"Is it an anniversary or something?" I asked.

My father shook his head, disappointed with me. "It never goes away for us, Leah."

On our way back to the car we came across a homeless man. "Anything you got," he said, folding up his cardboard sign to hold out a cup. My father reached into his pockets, digging out a fistful of change. The homeless man looked more closely, wrinkled his forehead, and said, "Kevin?"

My father looked up. "Hey man," he said and held out his hand. They locked fingers for a moment before letting go.

"Who was that?" I asked as we walked away.

"A guy I was in Vietnam with," said my father.

"Seriously?" I asked. It seemed too staged, too unreal.

He fixed that disappointed look on me again. "There but for the grace of God, go I," he said.

My father died a little more than a year later. He was proud of his service, but in his suicide note he listed Vietnam as one of the things that had "ruined his mind." I have thought about this moment in Washington, D.C. many times over the years, particularly when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. Would one of those soldiers one day panhandle from a former Army buddy? Might one of them one day leave a suicide note for his or her daughter?
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When PTSD Makes Soldiers Self-Destruct

Happy Veterans Day, you're under arrest

You can judge him and tell yourself he had a duty to this country to serve out his time but then you would be ignoring the duty that the military had to him to take care of his wounds.

November 11, 2010 5:09 PM
AWOL Soldier Suffering from PTSD Turns Himself In
Posted by Armen Keteyian

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 (Credit: CBS/Pia Malbran)
AWOL Army Specialist Jeff Hanks turns himself in at Ft. Campbell, KY November 11, 2010

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky.

Less than 24 hours after interviewing AWOL Army specialist Jeff Hanks in the living room of his temporary home in White Lake, North Carolina, I was waiting for him to turn himself in at Gate 4 of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

In that brief time, Hanks had become something of a symbol.

He was a soldier struggling with what he said was war-induced stress, anger, panic - all PTSD-like symptoms.

He was fighting the military for help to the point where he walked away from the Army last month after a superior ordered him to return to Afghanistan just days before an on-base mental health assessment.
read more here
AWOL Army Specialist Jeff Hanks turns himself in

Once we were Warriors Original Veteran's Day 2010 Military Tribute

Striking video on the Vietnam Memorial Wall!

"Once we were warriors, now we're names here on the wall."

Vietnam vets betrayed again

First Vietnam vets were told they just were not good enough to hang out with "real" veterans of WWI WWII and Korea. They were told they were not good enough to hire them when they went looking for jobs. All these years later, all their history leading up to the Vietnam Wall itself showing cracks seems to offer a reflection of the lack of support these men and women really get from this country. Now one more betrayal heading their way just when they thought it was safe to trust again after all that has happened for them over the last couple of years. PTSD claims easier to have approved, Agent Orange linked to more illnesses, Veterans Courts, more PTSD research than ever before, homeless veterans programs, substance abuse programs, you name it but when we let something like this happen, it sets them back years in healing and forgiving the rest of us for how we treated them.

ROBBINS: Vietnam vets betrayed again
Pentagon bureaucrat wants to abridge 50th-anniversary ceremonies
By Jim Robbins-The Washington Times
5:28 p.m., Wednesday, November 10, 2010
he 50th-anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War should be a time of reflection and redemption, when a grateful country pays a long-standing debt to veterans who nobly fought in the conflict but came home to scorn and spit. But if a Pentagon bureaucrat has his way, the Viet vets will be denied their rightful honors once again.

In 2008, Congress authorized the secretary of defense to "conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War" to "thank and honor veterans of the Vietnam War," "pay tribute to the contributions made on the home front," highlight technological advances during the war and "recognize the contributions and sacrifices" of U.S. allies. The Defense Department also was charged with coordinating, supporting and facilitating "other programs and activities of the Federal Government, State and local governments, and other persons and organizations in commemoration of the Vietnam War." The proposed budget for the commemorations was $100 million, which was less than the amount spent on the World War II and Korean War commemoration efforts. For example, the 1984 commemoration of the Normandy landings alone cost $38 million.

The commission charged with executing this mission sought a commemoration that would be in keeping with the spirit of the intent of Congress. The idea was to have a series of commemorations that would begin in 2009, 50 years after the July 8, 1959, Viet Cong attack at Bien Hoa killed Army Maj. Dale R. Buis and Master Sgt. Chester M. Ovnand, the first two names on the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The commemorations were slated to continue until 2025 and the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

According to a source familiar with the workings of the commission, it proposed a series of events to take place at various locations around the country to maximize opportunities for aging Vietnam vets to attend them. The events were designed to combine symbolism with substance and were chosen carefully, with input from an interagency group of historians. One planned event was to take place in the fall of 2011 to commemorate the 1965 battle in the la Drang Valley, dramatized in the film "We Were Soldiers." The event was to be held in Auburn, Ala., home of retired Army Lt. Gen. Harold G. "Hal" Moore, who commanded the troops in the fight. Gen. Moore is emblematic of the veteran population in more ways than one; he is in poor health, and members of the commission fear he may not be available to attend the event. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 300 Vietnam vets are dying every day, and as our source asked, "Why are we waiting to get this started?"
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Vietnam vets betrayed again

Vietnam medic still battling post-traumatic stress disorder

Vietnam medic still battling post-traumatic stress disorder
Vet feels bad for guys who are doing three or four tours, ‘this is going to tear them up.’
By Tom Stafford, Staff Writer
10:51 PM Wednesday, November 10, 2010

“The closest thing I can relate it to,” said Randy Ark, “is like when your blood sugar gets low. There’s that nervousness, that edge.”
Moments before, a longtime friend had sneaked up behind the Army combat veteran in the basement of the Vineyard Church, covered his eyes, and shouted, “hey.”
A seed of anxiety and dread “started to multiply,” said Ark, who had been a medic in Vietnam. An episode in the life of a person with post-traumatic stress disorder was beginning to unfold.
“I kind of knew it was coming. I almost could feel it coming,” he said.
Although Ark’s wife was there, as were other friends, he asked for his friend Rick, who’d also been in Vietnam.
“I thought maybe he could help me a little bit.”
But Rick was across the room at the dessert table.
“I couldn’t see him because of the people milling around and walking around,” Ark said.
So he planned a retreat.
No, he told his wife, nothing was wrong.
He just needed to get to the bathroom.
There, alone, in a space where the hard surfaces make for echoes, he turned around a couple of times, took hold of the center stall divider and put his head down, waiting for what always comes.
“I just started sobbing and shaking,” he said. “When something scares you like that, it just brings back that emotion of a sudden occurrence where you don’t know what’s happening, but it could be bad.”
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Vietnam medic still battling post-traumatic stress disorder

On Veterans Day, wounded Afghanistan vet has unbroken spirit

On Veterans Day, honoring a Marine who lost his limbs, but not his spirit, in Afghanistan

By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 11, 2010; 12:43 AM
The morning that Marine Cpl. Todd A. Nicely received his medal for valor, he and his wife, Crystal, paused in a restroom at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to pull the trousers of his uniform over his artificial legs.

Crystal maneuvered his pants past the carbon fiber feet. Then they fitted the prostheses onto the stumps of Todd's legs.

He put on his tan utility shirt, which she buttoned, attached his artificial left arm and slipped his metal pole crutch onto the stump of his right arm. When he donned his camouflage Marine Corps hat "low on the brow," he was ready.

It was the first time in six months that he had been back in his "cammies" - since the day in March when he had stepped on the explosive device in Afghanistan that tore off his hands and lower legs.

The blast broke his jaw, punctured his ear drums and left him, according to the latest statistics, one of only three men - a soldier and two Marines - from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive an attack as a quadruple amputee.
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On Veterans Day

Wartorn: PTSD has been called, it's been called nothing at all

'Wartorn'

James Gandolfini TV special shows war veterans are often 'Wartorn' and their PTSD is brushed aside
DAVID HINCKLEY

Thursday, November 11th 2010, 4:00 AM
"Wartorn," a compelling examination of how combat can cripple the lives of those who survive physically intact, will trouble some viewers. It should.

What we today call posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), executive producer James Gandolfini explains, is really just a more formal medical-sounding term for what over the last 150 years has been called shell shock, combat fatigue or just hysteria.

More often, "Wartorn" points out, it's been called nothing at all. It's been ignored - buried inside by those who suffer from it and brushed aside by those who find the subject uncomfortable.

America, particularly male America, has always been a "buck up and shake it off" kind of culture. The idea that some intangible set of experiences or memories could disrupt a person's subsequent life can make that person seem weak or undisciplined.

"Wartorn" firmly rejects this notion, suggesting denial over time may only compound the debilitation.

Almost everyone knows vets from World War II, Korea, Vietnam or the Gulf who don't want to talk about it. Those on the outside usually take this as admirable stoicism, a sign of doing what had to be done and moving on.

"Wartorn" argues, convincingly, that some veterans can't do that. Whatever they did or saw has changed their lives, perhaps crippled them.

The manifestation can be physical, like screaming nightmares. Equally insidious, it can affect trust and relationships.

"Wartorn" starts with the Civil War, which wasn't the beginning of the problem, but gives us a riveting example through a series of letters written by a Pennsylvania soldier named Angelo Cropsey.



Read more: Wartorn

This Veterans Day, 18 will die by their own hands

This Veterans Day, 18 will die by their own hands

by

Chaplain Kathie

This Veterans Day, yesterday, the day before and all other days ended with 18 veterans no longer here. They were not among the veterans that died of old age, or from a physical illness. Their deaths were not from enemy hands but from the enemy within. 18 veterans take their own life everyday in this country. Over 12,000 a year attempt suicide with many... Read more of this article

Man requests restraining order against Tim Tebow, Obama, Jesus

Man requests restraining order against Tim Tebow, Obama, Jesus
Requests for restraining order dismissed
By Rachel George, Orlando Sentinel
4:32 p.m. EST, November 9, 2010
GAINESVILLE – It might not be unusual to hear the names of Tim Tebow and Jesus Christ uttered in the same sentence. The former Gator quarterback is open about his beliefs, after all.

But throw in President Barack Obama, and now it gets interesting.

What do the three share?

One man, John D. Gilliand, asked for restraining orders against each of them last week.


Gilliand explained in Alachua County court records that he felt threatened by Tebow, Obama and Jesus.
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Tim Tebow, Obama, Jesus

Mental battle scars still haunt Vietnam vets

Mental battle scars still haunt Vietnam vets
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
By Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette

Vietnam vets John Knorr, left, and Ken Seybold discuss their lives with PTSD during a group therapy session.

"We were sent way back out in the jungle, and on the way out there all I could see were dead bodies along the road.

"It was then that mentally I died."

-- Andrew Williams, Apollo

Dennis Hughes has to sit with his back against the wall, so fearful is he of being attacked.

Jim Davis plans an "escape route" whenever he's driving.

Gary Vinka sometimes springs out of bed in the middle of the night, thinking he's being attacked.

They and four other men shared such stories during a recent group therapy session in Highland Park for combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The mutual support brings solace for the invisible wounds of war they bear.

Their mental battle scars aren't fresh like those suffered by veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. Their feelings of anger, hyper-vigilance, emotional numbness and guilt have endured for 40 years -- since their service in Vietnam.

Largely from the advocacy efforts of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War, PTSD is now recognized in the mental health field as an anxiety disorder.



Read more: Mental battle scars still haunt Vietnam vets

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Beyond the Courtroom

When you think about the staggering numbers of veterans with PTSD and then notice how few of them end up getting into trouble with the law, it is obvious that only some end up making the headlines. Wouldn't it be a wonderful day in this country when they all get help before it ever gets to the point of domestic violence, stand offs with police, crimes, drunk driving or any other trouble they can get into because they are not thinking clearly? That's the biggest problem in all of this. They don't get what they need to heal from what they had to go through. More veterans attempt suicide than commit crimes. That shows how they are suffering more than taking it out on someone else.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Beyond the Courtroom
One psychotherapist said it is rare that PTSD sufferers exhibit violence.
By ALISON FLOWERS
Published: November 09, 2010

Harold McRae is known as "Doc" to the veterans in the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, recovery group he leads. McRae is not a doctor, but rather a psychotherapist with 30 years of experience with combat veterans.

McRae tells News 3 a major misconception about PTSD is that it leads to violence.

"The guys that I have worked with, I have found them no more dangerous than the civilian men I work with," McRae said. "A lot of people have trouble dealing with their anger, but they don't go out there beating people, hitting people and breaking the law."

One Army veteran McRae works with talked to News 3 about his PTSD diagnosis. He chose not to be identified for the sake of his children's privacy. He said he has a hard time backing down from a high state of alert.
go here for more and for video
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Beyond the Courtroom

Calverton National Cemetery honors veterans whose funerals no one attended

November 8, 2010
Calverton National Cemetery honors veterans whose funerals no one attended. CNN's Deborah Brunswick was there.

Veteran Suffering From PTSD Faces Jail Time for 911 Call

Veteran Suffering From PTSD Faces Jail Time for 911 Call
Rob Low, edited by Meagan Kelleher
9:46 PM CST, November 8, 2010

"He didn't commit a crime," Elizabeth Hershley said. "You go to jail when you commit a crime, he called for help."

PLATTE CITY, MO - What an Air Force veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder calls a cry for help, Platte County prosecutors call a crime and want the Iraq war veteran to serve a year in jail for causing a stand-off with police.

Zachary Hershley says he suffered a flashback episode caused by post-traumatic stress disorder on April 23, 2010. Hershley admits he was drunk when he dialed 911 at 2 a.m., telling a dispatcher, "I'm the guy with the gun...I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because I killed a f----ing bunch of god d--n kids."

Hershley was armed with a gun while he was on the phone with dispatchers. At times, during the 911 call he implies he needs his gun to protect himself from enemy forces in Iraq, telling a Swat Team negotiator, "I'm going to kill somebody that tries to kill me."

When the negotiator asked Hershley why somebody would want to kill him, Hershley responded "cause they're f---ing after my ass because I killed their cousins."

Hershley's wife Elizabeth also called 911 that night. Elizabeth told dispatchers that her husband thought his father was an Iraqi enemy soldier.

"Hi, my husband just called in there," she can be heard on the tapes. "My husband, he's got PTSD and he's kind of on a rampage, he doesn't, he thinks he's in Iraq right now."

She can be heard on the 911 tapes telling her husband, "Zac it's me, it's Liz. You need to go to the hospital. Yes, you do!"

Hershley's father Roy said his own son didn't recognize him that night. Hershley eventually gave up that night and was taken to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. Hershley says he doesn't remember calling 911, but after hearing the tapes, he says it was clearly a psychotic flashback.

"I know I'm slipping and that was basically my last cry out for help," he said.
Veteran Suffering From PTSD Faces Jail Time for 911 Call

Man hit by taser and died was Vietnam veteran

Man hit by Taser was Vietnam veteran
Family mystified by death of 61-year-old
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Nov 08, 2010 21:04
Harvestview S

His family was mystified Monday about what had happened to Neill. They did not know what precipitated the struggle, saying that Neill was a gentle man who wrestled with demons left from his service in Vietnam, where he served as an ambulance driver for the Marines.

A man who died Saturday after scuffling with police and being hit by a Taser was a Vietnam veteran who was haunted by his memories of the war, family members and a friend said Monday.

He also was a widower, a father of three grown children and a grandfather of nine.

Family and neighbors are waiting to hear more about the circumstances leading to the struggle that ended with the death of Robert Neill, 61, of Mount Joy Borough.

The incident began with a call to police by Neill, who said he was being harassed, police said.

But when police arrived at Harvestview South apartments early Saturday morning to talk to Neill, they said he became combative and aggressive. After he moved aggressively toward an officer and did not listen to their commands, police used a Taser, a gun that delivers an electric shock, on Neill.

Police used the gun again a short time later, as well as Mace, or pepper spray, when the struggle continued.

Mount Joy Borough police responded first and Susquehanna Regional Police and Pennsylvania State Police assisted them.


Read more: Man hit by Taser was Vietnam veteran

Former Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer nominated for Medal of Honor

Ambush survivor up for Medal of Honor
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Nov 9, 2010 8:40:53 EST
The Marine Corps has recommended that a former corporal receive the Medal of Honor for braving a hail of enemy fire in September 2009 to pull the bodies of four U.S. troops from a kill zone in eastern Afghanistan, Marine Corps Times has learned.

Dakota Meyer, 22, of Greensburg, Ky., was recommended for the nation’s highest award for valor, according to a source with knowledge of the process, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meyer could become the first living Marine recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. Only one Marine, Cpl. Jason Dunham, has received the award for actions in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he was honored posthumously after throwing himself on a grenade in Karabilah, Iraq, in 2004 to save the lives of fellow Marines.
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Ambush survivor up for Medal of Honor

Florida house fire kills five children

Marion house fire kills five children
Three other victims are at a local hospital.
By Walter Pacheco, Orlando Sentinel
6:32 a.m. EST, November 9, 2010
Five children died in a house fire overnight in north Marion County, officials said.

The three boys and two girls, ages 6 to 15, lived with other family members in the 1700 block of N.E. 182nd Place in Citra.
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Marion house fire kills five children

VA Celebrates National Family Caregiver Month

VA Celebrates National Family Caregiver Month


WASHINGTON (Nov. 8, 2010)- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is marking National Family Caregiver Month by honoring the service of family members and friends who have dedicated their lives to caring for chronically ill, injured, or disabled Veterans.

"Caregivers are the family members and loved ones who take care of the severely injured Veterans who need assistance on a daily basis," said VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. "These mothers, wives, fathers, husbands and other loved ones make tremendous sacrifices to be there every day for the Veterans who served this Nation. They are our partners in Veteran
health care and they deserve our support."

November is National Family Caregivers Month, and VA medical centers nationwide will offer locally sponsored events for caregivers. Because caregivers often experience stress, burnout, or feel overwhelmed by the caregiving experience, planned activities will provide useful
information about VA and community resources that offer support and assistance to caregivers and Veterans.

Caregivers provide a valuable service to Veterans by assisting them beyond the walls of VA medical facilities with support such as accessing the health care system, providing emotional and physical support, and allowing injured Veterans to stay in their homes rather than living
their lives in an institutional setting.

Caregivers help Veterans maintain a better quality of life and gain more independence. As the Veteran population ages and continues to increase, the role of caregivers as partners in supporting Veterans is even more prevalent. The Veteran population aged 65 and older is expected to increase from 37.4 percent to 44.8 percent by the year 2020. VA is also
treating a new era of younger, severely injured Servicemembers. Many Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan will need lifetime care. VA recognizes the support of their caregivers is vital for these Veterans.

On May 5, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010. Passed by Congress, this law will allow VA to care for those who provide supplemental help to family caregivers of the most severely wounded veterans returning from
Iraq and Afghanistan. VA has been consulting with Veterans organizations, as well as individual Veterans and their family members, to ensure these new programs are implemented to provide the best possible support for those who have sacrificed so much.

These benefits will add to the wide range of compassionate and practical
programs for Veteran caregivers that are already available from VA:

o In-Home and Community Based Care: This includes skilled home
health care, homemaker home health aide services, community adult day
health care and home based primary care.

o Respite care: Designed to temporarily relieve the family
caregiver from caring for a chronically ill, injured or disabled Veteran
at home, respite services can include in-home care, a short stay in a VA
community living center or other institutional setting or adult day
health care.

o Caregiver education and training programs: VA provides
multiple training opportunities which include pre-discharge care
instruction and specialized caregiver programs such as polytrauma and
traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury/disorders, and blind
rehabilitation. VA has a caregiver assistance healthy living center Web
page on My HealtheVet, www.myhealth.va.gov, as well as caregiver
information on the VA's main Web page health site; both Websites include
information on VA and community resources and caregiver health and
wellness.

o Family support services: These support services can be face to
face or on the telephone. They include family counseling, spiritual and
pastoral care. Polytrauma Centers also offer family leisure and
recreational activities and temporary lodging in Fisher Houses.

o Other benefits: VA provides durable medical equipment and
prosthetic and sensory aides to improve function, financial assistance
with home modification to improve access and mobility, and
transportation assistance for some Veterans to and from medical
appointments.



Caregivers should contact their nearest VA medical center for caregiver
activities in the local area. Facility locators and contact information
can be found at www.va.gov.

We Call Them Heroes, documentary on Vietnam Veterans

Debut draws crowds, tears
'... We call them heroes'
BY STACY TEMPLE • STEMPLE@THENEWSSTAR.COM • NOVEMBER 5, 2010

The tragedy and horror local Vietnam veterans experienced in the war were magnified on the big screen Thursday night.

The vivid recollections from the veterans featured in the documentary "Some Call Them Baby Killers "» We Call Them Heroes" by R-Squared Productions were funny at times and emotional at others. Twenty Vietnam veterans from northeastern Louisiana were featured in the film and recalled the horror they saw in combat, the smell of the country and what it felt like to lose fellow soldiers in a split second.

Executive Producer Rodney Ray said it was important that he preserve and tell the stories of our vets before the stories were lost.

"It is so humbling, and it is very honoring to be a part of what we hope is the healing process for these vets," Ray said. "It is very powerful and very moving. The reason I do movies is to change people's lives, and I believe this one will."
read more here
Debut draws crowds tears


I thought they are heroes too!

What would Rockwell paint today?

What would Rockwell paint about the country right now?

Norman Rockwell

by
Chaplain Kathie

Normal Rockwell wanted to find a way to help other people see the country thru his eyes. Where there was something wrong, he wanted them to see what was possible. Where there was someone in distress, he wanted others to see them so they could do something to help. He thought about the "better angels" living in all of us.

I wonder what he would paint about us now?

A couple of his paintings were about soldiers coming home from war. What would he paint today when they come home from Iraq and Afghanistan while some Americans think the troops have all come home from Iraq on top of forgetting they are in Afghanistan?

What would he paint when they come home with metal replacements of legs and arms? Waiting in line at the VA? Sleeping in the woods, in line at soup kitchens, standing in the streets or begging for spare change? Finding it so hard to be a veteran, they don't want to live one more day of being one and take their own lives?

Would he remind people that after they return from war, the danger to them is far from over?


Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear, but would he make it five if he were alive today? It seems that our veterans do not enjoy any of these freedoms today.

We say they have a right to say what they want but when they say they need help to recover, we don't really hear them. When they say they are for or against the wars being fought today, they get shouted down by other veterans and other citizens.

Religion? No they come home after having one branch of Christianity being forced on them according to recent reports.

From want? Well considering there are so many suffering from not being able to work but find their claims denied or tied up, there is no income for them between wound and check, or the fact that while they are deployed, some of their families are on food stamps especially when they are citizen soldiers depending on their civilian jobs to live off of.

Freedom from fear? Well, sorry but not that one either. They have to fear getting wounded because there are so many problems with getting what this nation promised them when they left these cities and towns to fight our battles.

The country needs another Rockwell so we can see it thru his eyes and then maybe, just maybe we'd do something to make sure no veteran comes home neglected or having to fear being home as much as they did in combat.