Home

Just bring the troops home from Afghanistan

18.05.12

Jack, my co-pilot, sleeps in the passenger seat. His chin rests on my upper leg. The car in front of us wears two Support Our Troops ribbons. One is yellow; the other red, white and blue. Both are made in China. On the rear bumper is a faded black MIA sticker. That driver probably means well, but by now I've seen too many ribbons.

While the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq kill and maim, I think of how they are also shaping the future. Many of these returning veterans will come home and go missing, and you won't even know it. Returning from a war is more than getting off an airplane and putting on civvies. Combat changes a person. It changed me.

I'm driving angry.

I want to tell the guy in front of me: You want to support the troops? Get them the hell out of the line of fire. Or, if you think this war is so necessary, get over there yourself. If you're too old, pull your kids or grand kids out of college and send them.

Source: The Japan Times