This hardly surprises me. ‘Pop’ Smoke sends us this news flash which should hardly come as a surprise but does. In the early stages of World War II, this was commonplace. Roosevelt did not want America to lose heart at the outset when our casualties were enormous in the South Pacific. He ‘sat’ on them for years and the truth did not out until after the war. I think we’re all big boys and girls now and can stomach the truth- however unpalatable it may be.

Here, we have the enigma of a self-described ‘open, transparent administration’ which suddenly has become opaque.  Suddenly glasnost from the C in C, who promised to extricate us from Iraqistan, is in short supply.

Winning a military engagement is pursued with gusto. Half-measures result in unnecessary casualties. A three-to-one force majority, in conjunction with air superiority is employed and a guaranteed outcome ensues. This fact is tried and true. It has never been otherwise. Yet we have embarked on a policing mission that is anathema to troops in place. Look no further than the type and number of the injuries. It mirrors the carnage of the sixties and early seventies in Southeast Asia. Amputations and loss of limbs once again lead the statistics.

If our troops are injured, so be it. Let’s get them help. Shuffling them into a backwater corner of Walter Reed away from the prying eyes of the media is not what we need. Honesty is. A frank assessment of what the needs list is and prompt attention to these troops to get them help is in order rather than getting reelected on broken promises.

I personally do not care what the Agenda du jour is anymore. I cannot change the bellicose nature of nations nor can I incite my own nation to do what’s right. Somewhere, we made a decision politically to abandon reason and press on with appearances. As usual, the ones who lose are those who can ill afford it. This is not an argument about ‘Bush lied, thousands died’. I note Reagan was not repetitively  blaming Jimmy ‘the peanut’ Carter for getting him into a jam economically five years after he was elected a second time. Neither was Clinton overly inclined to take Bush 41 to task for America’s malaise.

The parallels to the Vietnam War and the familiar, concomitant fallout now are striking. Using CIA logic (if we don’t discuss it, they won’t come bitch), the VA and the military are quietly burying this in the backwaters of VAMCs and military hospitals everywhere.

Honesty is what drives future decisions in government. Cooking the books or worse- simply removing whole chapters and secreting them out of sight in hopes no one will notice- is disingenuous and self-serving. Are we so driven by our political beliefs that we are content to obscure the truth about our injured Sons of War? To what possible purpose? Winning the next election? America deserves better. We, as Veterans deserve better.

Since writing your congressman is not the panacea it once was, I strongly suggest we use that lovely lever of democracy called the vote to effect change in the next election. I do not, nor will I ever, suggest who might be the more adroit at accomplishing this task. I don’t rightly know. Both sides seem more consumed with keeping their jobs than keeping America strong. You’re all adults. I leave that determination to you. PFC Josh Stein and his buddies demand we do something rather than bury him and his statistics at the bottom of a trash can. We tried this after Vietnam and it didn’t work very well then, either.