FORGOTTEN WARS

 Daily we receive a newspaper called Stars and Stripes.  The free paper is a summary of news from back home whose genesis began before WWII. The publishers collate articles from the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, and local papers such as the State, the San Antonio Express News, and The Herald.   The lead article was “Is Iraq the New Forgotten War?” The author quotes a woman whose older brother died in Iraq last month.  When she tells her brother’s story, most aim to correct her, “don’t you mean Afghanistan?” Her brother died from and IED explosion. We have 43,000 troops still in Iraq with an average of 1 death a week.  However, reading the headlines, of this paper today and each day since January.  Many of us feel that the Afghanistan War may also be forgotten.  Between the headlines of political wrangling, a new iPad release, and Hollywood’s latest gossip, is the news of another US servicemen dead, today. The paper missed the last 5 deaths in the past 3 days.  It missed the 1 death in our hospital.  It forgot the 20 amputated patients we saw in the last 48 hours and the 80 that will be flown out tonight for “minor injuries” that will be evacuated to Germany, return home, and likely never return to war.  The bombs are getting bigger and their tactics are sharper.   Our $900 million MRAP vehicles are sometimes no match to their ingenuity and shear ruthlessness.  The will our troops is humbling.  So when I read the Stars and Stripes, and see the reports of deaths and injuries, I know vividly that many more USSM are injured and dying every day here.  I’ll be reminded when I return home, as I pass the next group in the airport on their way to Afghanistan or Iraq.  I’ll be reminded each work day when I see the amputee running on the treadmill at my gym, when I see the soldier who overdosed in the emergency department as toiling with PTSD, and I’ll see it when I pass the young airman at Lackland or the young solider at the AMEDD who are excited, invigorated, and eager to sign up and go to war.  While the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan may be forgotten, I hope the Marine’s stories, the soldier’s injuries, the sailor’s families, and the airman lives lost are not.