The Price of War....

I have frequented Brooke Army Medical Center for testing. I have had periodic episodes of fainting and blacking out. A battery of tests were ordered by my doctor and I have yet to complete everything.

Up to this point, I am as healthy as can be. A small heart murmer was found in my tricuspid valve. This is fairly common and not of great concern.

My entry, however, is not about my health issues. I have seen for myself the price of war. When I go in for tests I have come across men and women with heinous injuries. At times I have looked into faces that have been completely unrecognizable as human. Their lives and the lives of their families are forever changed. I have seen soldier after soldier with single, double, and/or triple amputations-some with one or no legs, some with no arms, and many, many burned and scarred. This is the price of war.

In Iraq a bomb exploded in a soldier's face as she tried to disarm it.
She lost both her arms and had major burns to her face and body. Her husband was there at the hospital supporting her. The staff took excellent care of her and will continue to do so. What does her future hold as she begins life with no arms? This is the price of war.

I have looked into the the eyes of soldiers leaving the hospital. Their eyes tell a long story...one of courage, sacrifice, pain, anguish, but also of pride. Their eyes are full of joy as they taste a new freedom leaving the hospital. But behind the joy lies apprehension and uneasiness about the future and what it holds for them and how they will make it. Their lives are changed forever. This is the price of war.

I have wept. There may be something even more humbling then a soldier dying for his country. It is that soldier who has gone, fought, has suffered horrific injuries, lost limbs, and been burned to an unrecognizable state. That soldier stays here, bound to a horribly deformed body. He/she endures the stares and the whispers and the questions. If I were to fall on my knees and thank each of these soldiers for their incomprehensible sacrifices I would be on my knees a very long time. For now, to all the men and women who have suffered, and will suffer, I thank you. God bless you in your recovery and in your lives and God bless us with peace on earth and goodwill towards all men.