Thank you Families of Veterans

[Marylou123]

As we celebrate with gratitude those who fought and died for our country today, I'd like to say thank you to all my MWO peeps who have lost family members for a greater cause. Both my parents are WWII vets. Dads gone but today I get to watch my 93 year old, former US Marine mom carry our flag in a Memorial Day celebration. So grateful for my freedom, especially my sobriety.

[paulywogg]

Re: Thank you Families of Veterans

Grateful for them all

[NoSugar]

Re: Thank you Families of Veterans

Thanks, [MENTION=20527]Marylou123[/MENTION]. It sure is important to remember and thank all of the people who served our country. It's so cool that your mom can still participate in the festivities!

So many veterans struggle with addiction. I wish more of them discovered MWO - and that more services were offered by the government to help them. They earned it.

[Mick]

Re: Thank you Families of Veterans

Thanks, [MENTION=20527]Marylou123[/MENTION]. It sure is important to remember and thank all of the people who served our country. It's so cool that your mom can still participate in the festivities!

So many veterans struggle with addiction. I wish more of them discovered MWO - and that more services were offered by the government to help them. They earned it.

and homelessness...and I think what you say applies to governments worldwide...you cannot "untrain"a soldier everything he has had drummed into him/her or seen ..in a 6 week demob course. there is a very fine line between this side of the bars or that side on release from the forces for some..hit the problems before the escapism of addiction becomes part of their life whether it be boredom ,flashbacks whatever...after all they were willing to give their all if the wheel came off

[kuya]

Re: Thank you Families of Veterans

My foster father served in WW2 and was at Dunkirk and in Africa with Montgomery and was a 'desert rat'....... So yes, I am the family of a veteran.

When he came home to England in 1945 he was a mess. He had shell shock (PTSD) and was severely depressed. He nearly strangled my foster mum a couple times in his sleep due to the awful nightmares he suffered. For years she had to sleep in a seperate bedroom.

He told me (and I was a child of 8 or 9 so it was very scary to hear) that he felt like a murderer, and he also told me he had never told ANYONE else this story. I have no idea, to this day, why he shared this story with me

His recurring nightmare was about how his battalion had captured another battalion of Italian soldiers. The Italians had surrendered and now my father's battalion faced a march across the desert to the next engagement. They were low on ammo and food and had no way of containing the prisoners of war they now held.

My father wept like a child when confessing that they forced these Italian soldiers to dig their own grave and then shot them and buried them there in the desert.

Whenever I read people praising the bravery of soldiers, it makes me want to vomit. My foster father was not brave he was brainwashed ( as were the Italian soldiers he murdered!)

How people can continue to not see the fantasy of pitting one group against another to perpetuate the wealth of the ruling classes in every country completely bemuses me.

Delusional behaviour.

Of course soldiers develop addictions! Who wouldn't???

They have been duped into murdering other human beings!