Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Vets Are Not Forgotten In This Heart


“The Nation That Forgets Its Defenders Will In Turn Be Forgotten”


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I just returned from the debacle at ATL on Friday, unable to reach my destination before my reason for traveling had passed.

In my 16 hour odyssey I ran across a young service member traveling home for the first time from Walter Reed following a traumatic brain injury and some recovery.

He had a cane and left side hemiplegia. His left hand didn't work and he had to hook the cane on his arm to reach into a pocket with his good hand. He couldn't even pick up an order at a fast food outlet and walk away. With his food voucher from Delta that was all he was going to be getting.

I took him to a table and fed him lunch then to a drugstore where I bought him an ace bandage to wrap his swelling left ankle and leg. He was still a high risk for DVT if he ever did get a flight out of there.

His paralysis was permitting his lower extremity to swell since the smooth muscle wasn't squeezing to keep his blood from pooling in the extremity.

He was just taking a flight home with a quick layover. He hadn't been planning to be all day on his feet and I'm sure he hadn't done as much yet at Walter Reed.

I was dramatically upset by the airline's lack of action on behalf of this wounded soldier. Delta did right for me 22 years ago when I was in his situation. I am disappointed that they have lost their sense of what is important.

I experienced a culture rapt with greed and unconcerned by the discrete function the military was performing on their behalf. I bled and suffered in that service by my own volition, believing that some of us will be responsible for keeping the course of our country while the others partied until the dawn of the '90s.

I just hate seeing another generation of service members go through what I did.

Paul Coambs said...

Andrew,

Today’s military warriors are going through what you did because gratitude is not an automatic response by many for what was done for their ultimate benefit. Much of our generation, the progeny of the Greatest Generation, are the most self-centered, ignorant and ungrateful people this country has ever seen.

Thank you for your bleeding, Sheepdog. And, thank you for looking after our wounded brother Sheepdog.

Uu-ah Sheepdog! Hunt the Wolf and the Jackal!