Don't Dream It's Over
I want you I want you so bad
--I Want You, The Beatles
There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost
But you'll never see the end of the road
While you're travelling with me
--Don't Dream It's Over, Crowded House
Well, you feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself
--Feelin' Alright, Dave Mason
________
Director Taymor melds the above Beatles lyrics with the Uncle Sam imagery in her new film, Across the Universe. These days, it seems like Uncle Sam wants to hold on to the shards he has pretty badly, so as not to jar a lulled America by actually requiring shared sacrifice.
"War veterans who have lost a limb will relearn tasks like shooting a weapon, driving a car or rappelling down a cliff at a new rehabilitation center opening at Walter Reed Army Medical Center" (Army Opens New Rehab Center for Amputees; Goal is to return soldiers to service.)
Of course vets who've had limbs blasted off should relearn shooting and rappelling. How fine, to give these vets a realistic, goal-oriented training program that will return them to a productive life.
Does this give you the heebie jeebies?
Peruse your local classifieds -- slap full of job offers for cliff-climbing, one-legged rifle shooters. Another fine military assessment, on par with the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"This is all part of taking care of our soldier, recognizing that our soldiers have the skills and experience to still serve in the Army," said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, a spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command. "It is also part of our warrior ethos - never leave a fallen comrade."Of course, if the Army were taking care of the soldiers, then why are they in need of rehab? And of course, never leave a fallen comrade when you can fob them off on the Veterans Administration. As the article states, only a small percentage, 47 to be precise, have chosen to remain on active duty.
Further, the article does not discuss what happens to reserve force personnel when they are seriously injured.
The focus of in-service rehab should be the good of the individual, and not service need for trained personnel. Once soldiers are so severely injured, they should be medically retired and the emphasis should be on life-coping skills.
As for warrior ethos, these soldiers have already done their warrior stint. Where are you, Labrys? We need a dose of your righteous indignation right about now.
posted by rangeragainstwar at 8:12 AM
4 Comments:
I'm right here. I have been screaming on the WOTF Forum for sometime about the way they are sending injured men and women back to Iraq--people with spinal problems who cannot wear body armor without risking permanent injuries like paralysis, for example. It is only a short hop, skip, and jump before they try to call my own medically discharged son back---cause damn, shattered knees shouldn't hold up a real warrior, right? The bionic man will be someone like him, urged to have a prosthetic leg even in the absence of the usual catastrophic trauma, just so they can still run into battle.
They don't want to call a draft, of course---what, as you say, wake up America. No, lets just find ways to recycle the poor and the lower middle class men and women who are shut out of rapidly exported job markets. They keep lying about how the economy is doing so well, while jobs for the un-colleged evaporate as their recruiters haunt high school hallways. They should have a uniform more resembling vultures! And then, once they get them...even in the Nat'l Guard or Reserves, which parents don't gripe about as much because there is an illusion of safety and less talk of killing (You will rescue hurricane victims, Son!), they KEEP them with stop loss orders. They send them to Iraq and now, even broken GI Joe dolls will go back again and again.
I note the major news ignored the massive peace march in Washington D.C. this Saturday.
What America needs is something it cannot ignore. Like a general strike. Oh, and a regime change of its own. Someone for whom the Constitution is not just a "goddamned piece of paper" and someone who really gives a damn about the men and women who are our military, and who would not stoop to using mercenaries rather than admit the need for a draft to continue such a screwed up war. Oh, and a media that is not owned and controlled by the forces of corporate greed. My laundry list goes on and on...and did I mention I favor using a good strong lye based soap?
Thank you, labrys--eloquent, as always. You have said some fine things on this issue at your site (I'm putting you on the blogroll tonight.) I am glad you are there.
Jim will see your msg. tomorrow.
:::::falls over, overwhelmed::::
Wow, thanks...I'm speechless.
labrys,
My oversight for not doing it sooner.
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