Sunday, November 11th was originally know as Armistice Day. As one of the church vicar's explained in his homily, the meaning of Armistice Day was that his Dad could come home from the war. It was established at the end of World War I and was replaced with Veteran's Day after World War II. Veteran's Day is celebrated on November 12th.
I am a veteran of the US Navy. I was blessed to have been able to serve in a time of relative peace and at the end of the cold war. I was stationed at Naval Air Station, North Island which is on Coronado Island, a fair weather peninsula in San Diego, California. I went to sleep to the ocean crashing. I ran on the beach in the morning. And sometimes when I would run, I would see SEALS swimming or running nearby. (That's US Navy SEALS, which I preferred to watch over the other mammal variety of seals!) I almost feel guilty saying that I served. Life was pretty grand.
Circumstances came that required that I turn to the Veteran's Administration for my healthcare in the past two years. Part of my healthcare has been participation in a therapy group. I participate with several Vietnam veterans and Desert storm veterans; many of whom struggle with PTSD. Some cannot go anywhere in a crowd including taking their children to Disneyland. Many detest 4th of July celebrations because the fireworks sound like mortar rounds. Some have to take medication to keep from having psychotic episodes. These men and women have paid a great price and are heroic in doing their part in recovering the best way they can.
Post 9/11 soldiers have had to endure longer deployments than any other military personnel in contemporary history I haven't seen any of these people in my support group and can't imagine the difficulties they are suffering from their long exposure to war. And they are in no-win situations where the people they are fighting have no qualms about using senior citizens and children as human shields. The people they are helping seem to not want them there. I imagine the mental state of these soldiers is worse than any we have seen in soldiers of earlier wars
So let's honor these military men and women. Let's celebrate these veterans and celebrate life. Let's call another Armistice Day and bring them home NOW.
Mr. President, you have been re-elected. Bring our soldiers home. Dear friends and blog readers, write your congress people and senators. Bring our soldiers home, now. Our world and our country are not safer by being in countries that do not want us there. Our world and our country need to be healed. It's the day of reckoning, it's time to do the right thing. Time for Armistice Day.
And that's Penny's two cents.
amen sista
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