'WHAT THE HELL AMERICA??' So Asked Sergeant Wood . . .

Over the years, several Iraq War veterans have explained to me the same story. How, once they get back stateside, they feel an overwhelming urge to go back. Being home, being safe, wasn't, to reduce a hugely complex sensation to simple terms, the right thing to do.

In the stories, which I also heard from a war photographer that readily explained his bout with post traumatic stress disorder and consequential time spent with his shrink, there seems to be equal parts duty and humanity. As for the former, soldiers have left their own to fight a battle without them: could I be there to save . . . As for the latter, how can I be here, of all places, when the war is going on there?

Humanity chooses entirely arbitrary landmarks with which to commemorate events, and today comes another: 4,000 dead U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Considering the way the war is disappearing from popular discourse, perhaps it's wise to take any mention possible.

And in its piece (everybody plans the thousand spot), the Times assembles a collection of heart wrenching notes from soldiers. War is hell, it's been said, and it's true. But sometimes these anecdotes hit close to home, whoever you are. Or, actually, to put it bluntly, they indict.

From 22-year-old Sergeant Ryan Wood's Myspace blog in May of 2007, a month before he was killed by an bomb in his Humvee.

WHAT THE HELL AMERICA??

“What the hell happened?” any intelligent American might ask themselves throughout their day. While the ignorant, dragging themselves to thier closed off cubicle, contemplate the simple things in life such as “fast food tonight?” or “I wonder what motivated Brittany Spears to shave her unsightly, mishaped domepiece?”

To the simpleton, this news might appear “devastating.” I assume not everyone thinks this way, but from my little corner of the earth, Iraq, a spot in the world a majority of Americans could’nt point out on the map, it certainly appears so. This little piece of truly, heart-breaking news captured headlines and apparently American imaginations as FOX news did a two hour, truly enlightening piece of breaking news history. American veiwers watched intently, and impatiently as the pretty colors flashed and the media exposed the inner workings of Brittany’s obviously, deep character. I was amazed, truly dumbfounded wondering how we as Americans have sank so low. To all Americans I have but one phrase that helps me throughout my day of constant dangers and ever present death around the corner, “WHO THE [expletive] CARES!” Wow America, we have truly become a nation of self-absorbed retards. ... This world has serious problems and it’s time for America to start addressing them.

This world has serious problems, no doubt about that.

[Image is the cover of the current issue of The Atlantic, founded in 1857, ostensibly aimed at 'thought leaders.']

Comments

[Annette Smith]

a horrid shame that someone with so much potential for intelligence and reason gets killed - and others who are ignorant and content to remain that way have long and well-fed lives.