First there was the royal wedding on Friday...full of excitement, pomp and history...
Then there was the mass at the Vatican to beatify Pope John Paul II...
Now, the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed by US forces...
I watched TV most of the morning on Friday, about 30 minutes of the beatification mass early Sunday morning, and then missed Obama's speech by about 15-20 minutes. I had gone to bed and then saw a tweet that he was going to give a rare Sunday night press conference. Since there has been so much in the news about his birth certificate (which I am sick of hearing about and question his timing for releasing information....), I decided to stay in bed and not get up to watch his announcement. I kind of wish I had - it's quite a historical moment. On the other hand, my husband had his PT test this morning so it's probably good that I let him sleep...I wonder if they will still air the originally scheduled interview with Obama on Oprah this afternoon - from what I have seen he's discussing - yup, you guessed it, his birth certificate...Based on articles on the web, I'm not the only one (or the first) to question what Oprah might do...
Regardless, it has definitely been an eventful and historical weekend....
.jpg)
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Monday, May 2, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Honoring the Fallen
On last weekend's episode of Army Wives one of the characters died in combat in Afghanistan. It turned out to be a very emotional episode and included several different tributes to the fallen soldier - including a tribute from his platoon still in Afghanistan.
At the end of the episode the one thing I was surprised about is that they didn't use some events from real life in the episode. I'm specifically referring to a certain church from a certain state that feels called to protest at funerals of our service members. I am so very glad that the writers/producers of Army Wives decided not to give the church more legitimacy (if that's the right word) and/or publicity by featuring something similar in the show.
A few weeks ago, an Airman (A1C Zachary Cuddleback) from this area was shot outside the Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The certain church I mentioned decided they would come out to IL to protest at his funeral. Instead of them making the news and being in the forefront, hundreds of people from around the area lined the streets and blocked the protesters. The Wing Commander from Ramstein AB wrote an article about what he saw when he escorted A1C Cuddleback's body home for the funeral. Driving around town the next few days, one could still see several signs honoring A1C Cuddleback and his family. I wish we had heard about it beforehand, as I would have been honored to have participated.
My only question is, and I hate for it to sound like an unpatriotic criticism, was A1C Cuddleback the first person in 10 years of war to die from this are? If not, were the other people honored in the same way? I for one have not heard of anything like what was done for the Cuddleback family. I think it was amazing and beautiful that the community honored a fallen Airman in that fashion...I just hope we haven't gotten so immune to the war and its toll on our service members that others are allowed to just slip by unrecognized.
Do shows like Army Wives help us remember or do they add to the steady stream of reports and/or images that help to create "caring fatigue" bringing us to a point where we're just too tired to care anymore...?
At the end of the episode the one thing I was surprised about is that they didn't use some events from real life in the episode. I'm specifically referring to a certain church from a certain state that feels called to protest at funerals of our service members. I am so very glad that the writers/producers of Army Wives decided not to give the church more legitimacy (if that's the right word) and/or publicity by featuring something similar in the show.
A few weeks ago, an Airman (A1C Zachary Cuddleback) from this area was shot outside the Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The certain church I mentioned decided they would come out to IL to protest at his funeral. Instead of them making the news and being in the forefront, hundreds of people from around the area lined the streets and blocked the protesters. The Wing Commander from Ramstein AB wrote an article about what he saw when he escorted A1C Cuddleback's body home for the funeral. Driving around town the next few days, one could still see several signs honoring A1C Cuddleback and his family. I wish we had heard about it beforehand, as I would have been honored to have participated.
My only question is, and I hate for it to sound like an unpatriotic criticism, was A1C Cuddleback the first person in 10 years of war to die from this are? If not, were the other people honored in the same way? I for one have not heard of anything like what was done for the Cuddleback family. I think it was amazing and beautiful that the community honored a fallen Airman in that fashion...I just hope we haven't gotten so immune to the war and its toll on our service members that others are allowed to just slip by unrecognized.
Do shows like Army Wives help us remember or do they add to the steady stream of reports and/or images that help to create "caring fatigue" bringing us to a point where we're just too tired to care anymore...?
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Lucky Me
Earlier tonight I was reading some posts on the SpouseBuzz Blog and one of them really touched my heart. It had a link to a song video by Helene Cronin. The SpouseBuzz post originated with the Soldier's Angels blog.
The song is called "Lucky Me". The SpouseBuzz blog had some history: "The song is a true story based on Helene’s trip back from Nashville. Standing at the counter at the airport, she happened to strike up a conversation with the soldier standing near her. He mentioned he was headed back to Iraq and asked where she was going. “I'm going home,” she said. “Lucky you,” he replied."
I've listened to the song three or four times now and every time it hits my heart. As you know, I served in the Air Force for 10 years. During that time I deployed several times. I volunteered for every deployment I could. I loved being deployed; I loved feeling like I was finally doing what I signed up for. Every time an aircraft launched, I knew I had done my small part in making that operation a success and protecting the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. I know that sounds cheesy but that's what got me out of bed and kept me going.
I was assigned to Lajes Air Base in the Azores when 9/11 happened. I was doing turnover with my replacement at the time so there was quite a bit of overlap between the two of us as to who was helping to support our efforts when the aircraft began pouring through. There were a few times before I left that I felt left out of the "action." I was the one with the experience but the Director of Operations felt I should be concentrating on out processing. I understand what he was thinking but still wish he had let me make that decision. I moved on to Ramstein AB Germany where we were considered forward-deployed so we only supported the fight from there. After 22 months at Ramstein I went to the Pentagon for the AF Intern Program. Once again, I was not allowed to deploy. By 2005, I was at Andrews AFB, MD; again, assigned to a non-deployable unit.
I write out this history of assignments to show that I never participated in either IRAQI FREEDOM or ENDURING FREEDOM. And I really wanted to. All of the other deployments and operations I participated in were not so closely tied to really protecting what we, as the United States, stand for. I'm very proud of what I did and accomplished while in uniform but I wish I had been able to do more.
I realize I am very lucky that I never had to go to either Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet, when I listen to the song "Lucky Me", especially the words towards the end "Freedom comes at a heavy price; we don't all pay our equal share or know what it's like over there. Lucky us, the ones at home while others go to the battle zone; they are the brave, we are the free..."it makes me sad that I didn't pay anywhere close to my equal share and that I don't know what it's like "over there."
Back in 2003, I was at a course at the George Marshall Center. One night, we went to the symphony in Vienna. That same night, my brother was in Iraq with the 3rd Infantry Division. I remember the music made me so sad I started crying. All I could think of is that all I had ever wanted was to serve my country, yet I was having the time of my life and it was my little brother who was at war. I've never forgotten that.
I am lucky. I know that. And it would be very hard for me to deploy now with a husband and son. I am lucky there are still people out there willing to fight and die so that I can enjoy the freedom to sleep in my own bed in my own home with my husband next to me and son down the hall (and sometimes vice versa...). I am lucky I had the opportunity to serve my country at all and was happy to do it.
I just sometimes wish I could have done more...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Home of the Free - Because of the Brave
As of this morning there have been 4,810 brave men and women killed during Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM. Over 3,000 were killed in action. Over 30,000 have been wounded.
The numbers are staggering, at least to me. To think that almost 5,000 families are out there today, missing someone - a dad, a father, a sister, a brother, a mom...Yet, compared to other wars - so many more are coming home that might not have before. The medical facilities both in the field and here at home have helped bring people home to their families, wounded but alive.
In Vietnam, almost 59,000 service members died and over 300,000 were wounded (for the years 1959-1975). The country still carries the scars from that "war" - one wonders what effect the current "long war" will have on the country.
In WWII, the United States lost over 418,000. 418,000! Who can even fathom that? Was there a single city or town that was left unscathed by the losses? Then I look at the numbers for countries like Poland and the Soviet Union - countries that lost 16% and almost 14% of their entire population. Germany itself lost over 10% of its population. Not only did those countries lose so many men, they often had to rebuild whole towns/cities from scratch...
We Americans are lucky in a way...when you compare the number of wars and battles fought on home soil - the United States can not come close to what Europe and the Middle Wast have gone through. Whether that is due to our location in the world or the foreign policies of our presidents, we are lucky. Though that luck hasn't kept us from being involved around the world and losing good men and women.
One of my favorite sayings, which I first saw a few years ago, is "America - Home of the Free, Because of the Brave." Thank God for those men and women who make an oath to protect us, our country and our freedoms. You are not forgotten.
The numbers are staggering, at least to me. To think that almost 5,000 families are out there today, missing someone - a dad, a father, a sister, a brother, a mom...Yet, compared to other wars - so many more are coming home that might not have before. The medical facilities both in the field and here at home have helped bring people home to their families, wounded but alive.
In Vietnam, almost 59,000 service members died and over 300,000 were wounded (for the years 1959-1975). The country still carries the scars from that "war" - one wonders what effect the current "long war" will have on the country.
In WWII, the United States lost over 418,000. 418,000! Who can even fathom that? Was there a single city or town that was left unscathed by the losses? Then I look at the numbers for countries like Poland and the Soviet Union - countries that lost 16% and almost 14% of their entire population. Germany itself lost over 10% of its population. Not only did those countries lose so many men, they often had to rebuild whole towns/cities from scratch...
We Americans are lucky in a way...when you compare the number of wars and battles fought on home soil - the United States can not come close to what Europe and the Middle Wast have gone through. Whether that is due to our location in the world or the foreign policies of our presidents, we are lucky. Though that luck hasn't kept us from being involved around the world and losing good men and women.
One of my favorite sayings, which I first saw a few years ago, is "America - Home of the Free, Because of the Brave." Thank God for those men and women who make an oath to protect us, our country and our freedoms. You are not forgotten.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Cost of War
According to an AFP article "Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday lifted a ban on media coverage of the return of flag-draped coffins of fallen soldiers from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, reversing a controversial policy dating back to 1991."
There are many reasons, valid and contrived, for why the ban was imposed in the first place. And many reasons why it should or should not be lifted.
Gates said that he lifted the ban in order to allow the families to make the decision themselves. Makes sense. However, what if people (families) use something that should be a solemn and respectful thing to promote their own political views? One photo can be used over and over - crop it, blow it up, whatever, it is possible to make one photo look like many. In the photo accompanying the article above, all you see is a cargo hold full of flag draped coffins. The photo is actually from the first Gulf War. Yet, just looking at it, especially without a caption, it could easily be confused for a casualty from the current war.
Ralph Begleiter, a journalism professor at the University of Delaware who sued the Pentagon to force the release in 2005 of pictures taken by military photographers at Dover, said lifting the ban was important so the "American people could see the cost of war" and that without the photos that aspect is "invisible, undebated and undiscussed by American people." What I find sad about this statement is that the "cost of war" is there in every list of names published in a paper or magazine or scrolling on the screen on TV. The "cost of war" is there in the fresh graves at Arlington and other military and community cemeteries around the country. If the "cost of war" is not debated or discussed by American people it is not because it is invisible.
Is it just that people don't see it? Have people become numb to the "long" war? Have they become cushioned from the "cost" because of some false sense of security? Have they lost sight of the fact that they can feel "safe" in their homes because there are others willing to pay the "cost" for them? Will seeing a photo of a flag draped coffin change any of that?
There are many reasons, valid and contrived, for why the ban was imposed in the first place. And many reasons why it should or should not be lifted.
Gates said that he lifted the ban in order to allow the families to make the decision themselves. Makes sense. However, what if people (families) use something that should be a solemn and respectful thing to promote their own political views? One photo can be used over and over - crop it, blow it up, whatever, it is possible to make one photo look like many. In the photo accompanying the article above, all you see is a cargo hold full of flag draped coffins. The photo is actually from the first Gulf War. Yet, just looking at it, especially without a caption, it could easily be confused for a casualty from the current war.
Ralph Begleiter, a journalism professor at the University of Delaware who sued the Pentagon to force the release in 2005 of pictures taken by military photographers at Dover, said lifting the ban was important so the "American people could see the cost of war" and that without the photos that aspect is "invisible, undebated and undiscussed by American people." What I find sad about this statement is that the "cost of war" is there in every list of names published in a paper or magazine or scrolling on the screen on TV. The "cost of war" is there in the fresh graves at Arlington and other military and community cemeteries around the country. If the "cost of war" is not debated or discussed by American people it is not because it is invisible.
Is it just that people don't see it? Have people become numb to the "long" war? Have they become cushioned from the "cost" because of some false sense of security? Have they lost sight of the fact that they can feel "safe" in their homes because there are others willing to pay the "cost" for them? Will seeing a photo of a flag draped coffin change any of that?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)