Do soldiers fully anticipate the sacrifices they will make in Iraq with their health?

Question

November 13, 2007 NYC
A Soldier Home From War, and a Mother Fighting Hard

"“They acknowledge he has the shrapnel in his body, but he has to prove that it came from Iraq,” she said. “That’s where I blow a gasket. Prove? How’s he going to prove that?”

“He’s got a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. That’s great. But all I want is medical advice — where to go, what’s the right thing to do.”



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/nyregion/13nyc.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print

Perhaps the job can't be managed if soldiers are fully aware of the likely costs of their service. It's something they probably get into the habit of denying.

I didn't want to put the whole article here, so any excerpt isn't entirely fair. Here's perhaps the thrust of the article, that her son isn't motivated or really capable to claim his due recovery, if that is possible:

“It’s the military mind-set: Hardship is part of the job,” said one of the two who showed up, Louis Maniscalco. He is a New York City police officer and National Guardsman who “walked away with just some bumps and bruises” from a year’s tour in Iraq. A prevailing military attitude, he said, is that “if you don’t have it, it’s because you don’t really need it” — whatever the “it” may be, rights included.

Answer 1

Fully? Probably not.

We (I am active duty Marine Corps) know the grim possibilities. And we fully understand death, loss of limb, and so on. That is a risk we take to do our job and uphold our oaths. I would say everyone in the military anticipates those risks.

The risks that almost everyone forgets are the smaller ones. Infantrymen have beat up bodies, bad backs. Artillerymen can't hear. Physchological scarring would be another big one. T

Nevertheless, I'll share something else to help explain what we anticipate:
During recruitment, basic training, and beyond, one thing repeated many times, "You WILL deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. Some of you will not return." At least for the Marine Corps, we have no illusions as to what war means

Answer 2

I doubt they can "fully" anticipate anything....every day, every war, every experience is different. I'm sure they are "prepared" as much as anyone can be prepared.

If there is truth in that quote.....proving shrapnel came from Iraq in order to get medical treatment.....and I doubt it since the military knows where he's been and if/when he was injured....it is probably taken out of context. Media mania, most likely, anything to arouse public emotions.....and sales.

We owe our soldiers our utmost respect and support for putting themselves at risk in the name of protecting our freedom....I doubt the military feels any different about a returning soldier than they do about one on the battlefield or in training....especially a wounded one. And should our young men stop volunteering, you can count on the draft process kicking in immediately. As long as we have wars to fight, we will have men to fight them....sacrifices (life, let alone health) come with the territory. And all the Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts won't make up for the loss.

I hate war.....but it's not going to stop. It's a fact of life.....and a fact of death for some. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure....but tell that to the statemen.

Answer 3

The president made complicated options. that's amazingly revealing to work out people who supported him and pronounced an analogous issues on Iraq, have turn-flopped. They now disavow the war, and prefer to resign the combat, and make the soldier's sacrifices a waste.

Answer 4

The VA or your Congressmen should be taking care of that. Mistakes are going to happen, it's the government.
Nobody ever expects to be the one to get hurt. Once it happens, you just gotta take it from there. The important thing is that Americans fully understand the sacrifice we are making over there.

Answer 5

Have you tried the Veteran Administration with your sons orders showing that he was in Iraq. Just remember the squeaky wheel does get results. The Veterans Administration would get to know me real well, due to I would not stop until I got the right answers. They will try to through curve balls at you just keep firing back.
God Bless, Thank your son for me for fighting for us.

Answer 6

Yes we do. We volunteer to do it.

I know I have about a 1% chance of ending up like he did, or dead in Iraq or Afganistan. I know I have a .3% of something like that happening to me in the US in general, I don't let that bother me either. I know if I end up being in that 1% I have a 100% chance of ending up mentioned in a news artilce, but if I do my job without getting hurt, I have about a 5% of being mentioned vaguely.

3,000,000 individual tours to the GWOT, and only about 30,000 casualties.


EDIT------ We do not deny it. We see it. I have seen it happen.

mstrywmn.... I provided the numbers above, its about 1% and I have been deployed more then once, I am familiar with it.

Answer 7

I'm sure there are some who do. Since I have no desire to ever join the military I have a hard time answering.

But, I feel like the military preys on the weak, poor and uneducated.

I know of several highschool boys in my area (I work with HS kids for a living) who got into trouble with the law. The judge gave them the choice to go into service to have the charges wiped clean or just go with whatever happens in court. Pair this with the (usually false - or at least very hard to obtain) promises of a college education and most kids don't feel they really have a choice. So if you don't even feel like you have a choice you're probably not fully considering the consequences.

Then you add in the idea that most young people - especially young boys- have a feeling of immortality. It's a recipe for disaster!

Answer 8

Consider the source of the article - the NYT has a very bad habit of not telling the whole story in order to put their political spin on the news.

I smell BS with that news story.

Answer 9

There is no excuse for young men going in now,especially with all the info on the net for years. The majority are poor, $20,000 enlistment bribes are more than they could save in a lifetime, especially in the Appalachians and the Rustbelt,etc. If you look at the dead stats,these troops are from the south and midwest lower economic strata.Of course, you have the tough guys trying to prove something to their father and the guys that prefer showering with men. Let's not forget that the trend will be citizenship or green card enticements to the Third World community, all you have to to is kill other brown people.
Now we hear suicide rates are rising as most troops are traumatised for life after killing their first. The VA doesn't tell you that the Zanex and Prozac they give you to "make it better" has,on the label, "may cause suicidal tendencies."
Then,if they make it home with half their face blown off...they have to prove it !
Young men,,,,you're being played. It ain't worth a $20,000 pick-up truck!
(Don't get me started on Depeted Uranium and cancer rates among returning troops).

Answer 10

Kerry was right. It's the poor & uneducated that wind up paying the price. As for the young man that thinks he only has a 1% chance...he better think again!