node created 2019/05/26
U.S. Army on Twitter: "How has serving impacted you?"

some of the responses:

lemme think

I didn’t serve but my brother did
he never went to war but still shot himself in the head so

he was the sweetest most tender person I’ll ever know and the @USArmy ruined him

oh wait I have another brother who served also without fighting

he’s been fucked up in the head paranoid and violent for forty years ever since and I don’t even know where he is or if he’s still alive

and the stories he told FROM STATESIDE

Dad served in Vietnam as Navy artillery mechanic, spent most of his time in combat. Watched all his friends die when his PBR was blown up in middle of night. Hospital pulled out some shrapnel, badly stitched him up, & sent him right back to work on the next boat, same day.

Dad spent next several decades drinking because that was what passed for mental health treatment at local VA office. He had horrific nightmares for long time & would wake us with his screaming. He doesn't scream as much anymore, but still won't talk about his experience.

On Veteran's Day while the military Twitter account is tweeting platitudes, my dad gets the most expensive hard liquor he can afford, toasts to the lives his friends never had a chance to live, and ends the day drunk and sobbing. He made us swear to never join the military.

I’ve only seen my father smile in pictures. I was a baby when he went to Vietnam. The things he saw and did there broke him inside. There was no joy in life for him anymore. He finally shot himself in his study one afternoon, I found him when I came home. I was 8.

My grandfather served in Korea. One day they told him he could go back home if he signed on a list. He signed it, and they shipped him off to Nevada without his knowledge and tested the effects of radiation exposure on him. The VA didn’t want to have him a single damn dime...

Starting in 2014-15 he slowly became paralyzed from the upper chest down and had to have a feeding tube put in his stomach. The VA still gave nothing to him. The effects of his radiation exposure slowly but surely began to show from 2014 onwards and only got much worse.

He did eventually get his disability and benefits. But it was a 5 year long battle with the VA for every dime and dollar. They tried everything to refuse his rightful compensation. On May 28 2018, last Memorial Day. He died of asphyxiation....

The US Army to all that:

To everyone who responded to this thread, thank you for sharing your story. Your stories are real, they matter, and they may help others in similar situations. The Army is committed to the health, safety, and well-being of our Soldiers.

As we honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice this weekend by remembering their service, we are also mindful of the fact that we have to take care of those who came back home with scars we can't see.

You know what, when you send off innocent people to murder other innocent people, for the profit of others, eventual "scars" are rather predictable.