The Invisible Price of War
Ted Folkert
June 13, 2015
We just had another Veteran’s Day, the day each year that we honor those who served us to keep our country free and to fight the wars and other military conflicts declared necessary by our fearless leaders, most of whom never served in the military or never faced the enemy. It seems that in the last century or two our wars have been encouraged and started by the rich and powerful and fought primarily by the poor, and that the huge benefits have been enjoyed by the defense contractors who provide the weapons and other supplies and service that military action necessitates. I suppose wars were always started by the rich, fought by the poor, and enjoyed by the manufacturers who prosper from them.
We talk about the price of war as the troops, the training, the facilities, the equipment, the munitions, the damage and destruction, the injuries, the deaths. The U.S. defense budget is $1 trillion – wars or no wars. Our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq has cost more than $2 trillion and we don’t know what was accomplished. The cost of WWII is probably incalculable. David Nasaw, in his article in The Nation, “The Fruits of War”, tells us World War II resulted in 10 million prisoners of war in Germany alone, 40 million Europeans perished, 20 million Germans left homeless, 70,000 villages destroyed, 32,000 factories and 40,000 miles of track destroyed, 25 million deaths and 25 million left homeless in the Soviet Union, 6 million Jews killed, 420,000 American military deaths. The total cost in dollars is probably incalculable with the total devastation of Europe, Japan, and other Pacific countries.
The saddest part of the costs of war that are seldom talked about are the human costs that continue for decades thereafter – the costs that seem to fade from memory and reality. The costs that seem to become invisible just like the victims, those who served in the military, who carry the physical and mental scars from witnessing and participating in the killing and destruction, the thought of being killed or maimed, being severely injured, watching one’s comrades killed or injured, watching innocent people, civilians, killed or injured, personally killing or injuring civilians who got in the way. These are the demons our veterans of wars carry with them forever. These are their obstacles to living a normal, productive life in our world, the world where we remained safe from all the grief, where we can’t understand their sacrifice and the price they have to pay, their reliance of alcohol or drugs to carry on and which renders them unemployable and reliant upon veteran benefits or often upon a life of crime.
Although we don’t see these “wounded warriors”, they are quite visible if you look around. They are walking the streets of all the major cities, they can be seen in all of the skid row areas around the country. You can see them at the entrance to freeways, in every downtown area, hanging around popular attractions like Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach – in most any busy area you want to look. If you drive around early in the morning you will see them sleeping on the sidewalks, in doorways, behind anything they can find, seeking shelter or protection of some sort.
It doesn’t seem like a way to thank them for the sacrifice they made – a life of helplessness, hopelessness, and despair. Let’s look at the statistics – they tell us that the suicide rate of veterans is about one per hour. That is correct, one commits suicide every hour of every day. It is believed that the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder is the culprit – the demons in the brain that they can’t get over. It prevents them from operating successfully in society and leads to hopelessness and despair and ultimately, too often, to suicide. I suppose some of them wish they hadn’t made it back, like some of their comrades in battle. They can’t deal with the invisible battle scars.
The Department of Veterans Affairs works at it diligently but they are always in need of more funds. The suicide rates are less for those working within the VA system, so their efforts are somewhat successful. But, how can they provide housing for these victims of society without the funds to build housing, provide counseling, retrain for employment – hold their hand and help them get on their feet and function in society, all of which seems so easy for those of us who never had to pay the price.
In Los Angeles the VA is building housing units for veterans on the grounds owned by the VA hospital. This was the culmination of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of homeless veterans. They had to sue the VA for not doing their job, probably because our fearless leaders wouldn’t give them the money. They plan to transform this campus area into a vibrant community of permanent housing and to end veteran’s homelessness by the end of the year. They just last week opened a structure of supportive housing with medical and mental assistance for some homeless vets. Keith Hudson, a previously homeless vet, is pictured in the Los Angeles Times in his new apartment with shiny counters and bedroom, living room, dining room areas, with a TV on the wall and wifi in the unit. He now has a home, a job and a future. He said “when I walked in it was like one of those movies when you walk through a cloud.” It is hard to look at his picture in the paper without a lump in your throat. Of course, the saddest part is that we can see him now but we couldn’t see him before. He was invisible you know!
They tell us that we have 4,300 homeless veterans sleeping on the streets every night in Los Angeles County and they will end that soon. Those of us who have watched this for so long have a hard time believing their schedule, but we all agree that it obviously won’t come too soon!
What are they doing in New York, Chicago, Boston, Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Miami, Dallas, Little Rock, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Atlanta, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh? How about Washington D.C.?
And the trillion dollar question – What the heck took us so long?
Think about it!