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After the Wars: A legacy of pain and pride | The Washington Post
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A legacy of pain and pride

A nationwide poll of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans reveals the profound and
enduring effects of war on the 2.6 million who have served
More than half of the 2.6 million

Americans dispatched to fight the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan struggle with
Written by
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Photos and video by
Michel du Cille
physical or mental health problems stemming

from their service, feel disconnected from
Published on March 29, 2014
civilian life and believe the government is

failing to meet the needs of this generations
veterans, according to a poll conducted by The
Washington Post and the Kaiser Family
Foundation.
The long conflicts, which have required many
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/03/29/a-legacy-of-pride-and-pain/?hpid=z1[30.03.2014 22:07:05]
troops to deploy multiple times and operate

under an almost constant threat of attack,
have exacted a far more widespread emotional
toll than previously recognized by most
government studies and independent
assessments: One in two say they know a
fellow service member who has attempted or
committed suicide, and more than 1 million
suffer from relationship problems and
experience outbursts of anger two key
indicators of post-traumatic stress.
The veterans are often frustrated with the
AFTER THE WARS:
services provided to them by the Department
This story is the first in a multi-part series
of Veterans Affairs, the Pentagon and other
examining the effects of the Afghanistan and Iraq
government agencies. Almost 60 percent say
wars on the 2.6 million American troops who
the VA is doing an only fair or poor job in

addressing the problems faced by veterans,
served and fought. Find the full results of a

nationwide survey of active-duty troops and
veterans here.
and half say the military is lagging in its efforts

to help them transition to civilian life, which
has been difficult for 50 percent of those who
have left active service. Overall, nearly 1.5
million of those who served in the wars believe
the needs of their fellow vets are not being met
by the government.
When I raised my right hand and said, I will
support and defend the Constitution of the
United States of America, when I gave them
everything I could, I expect the same in
return, said Christopher Steavens, a former
Army staff sergeant who was among 819 vets
polled. He served in Iraq in 2003 and in
Kuwait two years ago, where he was injured in
a construction accident. Upon leaving the
Army last summer, he filed a claim with the
VA, seeking medical care and financial
compensation. He has not yet received a
response.
Its ridiculous that Ive been waiting seven
months just to be examined by a doctor
absolutely ridiculous, he said.
Even so, the vast majority of recent veterans

are not embittered or regretful. Considering
everything they now know about war and
military service, almost 90 percent would still
have joined.
What we did had a positive impact there, said
Texas Army National Guard Sgt. David
Moeller, who spent two year-long tours in
Iraq. I dont regret it. Its something Id do
over and over again.
Drawing upon detailed interviews with
randomly selected war veterans across all
military branches, including those still serving
and those no longer in the military, the
nationwide poll provides an unprecedented
glimpse into the lives and attitudes of modern
warriors an undrafted, all-volunteer cadre,
most of whom signed up in the wake of the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That force, drawn from
nearly every county in the nation and often
sent on multiple year-long combat tours, has
included more than 280,000 women and
thousands of 18-year-olds.
Although more than 6,800 U.S. service
members were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan,
advancements in body armor, transportation
and battlefield medicine gave troops a better
chance of coming home than any other
generation of war fighters.

They have come back to a nation that has
embraced them warmly, strongly, positively
and put tremendous value and appreciation
into their service, Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel said in an interview. That is so
important.
Many are thriving they are attending college,
paid in full by the post-9/11 G.I. Bill; they are
finding employers who covet their leadership
skills and work ethic; they are receiving the
medical attention they need. But the poll also
found that hundreds of thousands of others
feel they have been left behind on an
uncharted postwar landscape, fighting for
benefits, struggling to land a job, wrestling
with psychological demons unleashed by
combat or coping with shattered families.
Their responses reveal nuanced views of their
lives, their service and their treatment by the
government. Almost three in four believe the
average American appreciates their service,
but fewer only 52 percent like talking
about their wartime experiences with casual
acquaintances or strangers. Nearly 90 percent
performed actions in Iraq or Afghanistan that
made them feel proud, yet only 35 percent
believe both wars were worth fighting.
I dont find that to be in any way a
contradiction of data, Army Gen. Martin E.
Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, said in an interview. I think that this
aspect of service, and being true and
trustworthy to the man or woman on your left
or right, is probably what mostly drives the 90
percent figure. Theyre proud of what they did.

They believe they did their job, and potentially
the elected governments of Iraq and
Afghanistan didnt do theirs.
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Some of their present-day challenges

securing a well-paying career and coping with
credit-card debt mirror travails of American
society as a whole, but other needs are unique
consequences of this centurys conflicts:
diagnosing and treating traumatic brain
injury, acquiring technical skills to compete in
a transforming economy and addressing the
stress on families from repeated combat tours.
More than 600,000 Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans who have become partially or totally
disabled from physical or psychological
wounds are receiving lifelong financial
support from the government, a figure that
could grow substantially as new ailments are
diagnosed and the VA processes a large claims
backlog.
What is different about this generation?
Weve asked them to do a lot more, in a
smaller serving force, in some of the longest
wars in our history, VA Secretary Eric K.
Shinseki said in an interview. Multiple
deployments have created what he calls a
compounding effect to health problems and
combat stress, with an unknown overall cost.
Theres more work to be done in terms of
research and understanding of what the full
impact is going to be.

For many vets, their times in Iraq and
Afghanistan were searing experiences. One in
three think about their deployments daily.
Among them is Nicholas Johnson, a former
specialist in the Arkansas Army National
Guard, who spent a year in Iraq starting in
2006. His platoon was ordered to fill roadside
bomb craters, which required him to
jackhammer asphalt while wearing 50 pounds
of body armor and gear. He returned home
with a fractured vertebra, three fused disks in
his back, ringing ears and debilitating posttraumatic stress because of the frequent
carnage he witnessed on Baghdads roads.
I cant get a good job now because ... I have
to be upfront and say I have this disability, I
have a tore-up back, he said. So now, the
factories here in Topeka, where I live now,
theyre like: Oh, wow, he has military
experience. Great. He has managerial
experience. Oh, thats good. Some college all
right. Oh, he tore his back up. Cant do that,
you know.
Johnson, who is 32 but going on 60,
confronts the toll of his service on his drive to
a just-over-minimum-wage job at Lowes,
when he has to avoid Interstate 70 because it
reminds him of Baghdads insurgent-riddled
airport road, when he panics at the sight of
trash on the street because thats what Iraqi
guerrillas employed to conceal explosives,
when he pops painkillers and anti-anxiety
pills, when he has to use a cane to walk or ask
his fellow clerks for help moving boxes.
"I left the war zone," he said, "but the war zone
never left me."
WATCH VIDEO
Who they are

This generations veterans are more diverse
than any other contingent America has
shipped to war. Thirty-five percent are nonwhite, more than one in 10 are women and a
quarter are now 40 years or older.
But much of the force remains homogeneous:
Half are Southerners, two-thirds lack a college
degree and almost six in 10 live in a non-urban
area.
More than eight in 10 vets served at least one
tour in Iraq or in support of that war. Of those
deployed to Iraq, 47 percent were sent on two
or more deployments, and 29 percent more
than a half-million service members spent

two years or more in the strife-torn country.
By contrast, 29 percent of vets who deployed
to Afghanistan had two or more tours, and 16
percent spent at least two years there.
The entire group of 2.6million post-9/11 vets
includes hundreds of thousands of troops who
did not serve within the borders of Iraq or
Afghanistan but who worked in support of
operations in those nations from bases and
ships in the Middle East and South Asia.
Those deployments often were arduous and
risky and involved separation from families. In
tallying those who served, the Defense
Department does not distinguish between
them and those who walked on the soil of Iraq
or Afghanistan.
More than 730,000 went as members of the
reserves or National Guard, forcing them to
place their civilian lives on hold for as long as
a year, sometimes more than once. It was the
largest use of both forces since World War II,
greater even than during the Vietnam and
Korean wars.
The vets hail from families where service in the
military is tradition: More than four in 10 have
fathers who were in the military, and half have
at least one grandparent who was. Almost 40
percent say all or most of their friends have
served in the military. By contrast, a national
Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted in
December found that 32 percent of U.S. adults
had hardly any or no friends who have been
in the military.
Slightly more than half yearn for their time in

the wars. Of them, almost two-thirds cited the
bonds they forged with fellow military
personnel. It was a unique time, said Kevin
Ivey, a retired Army helicopter pilot who spent
a year in Afghanistan starting in 2004. I miss
my crew, the folks I was with, the
organization. You make lifelong friendships in
war.
Many vets see themselves as a cut above the
rest of American society, as noble volunteers
who stepped up to promote and protect U.S.
interests while the rest of the nation went
about its business as usual. Sixty-three percent
think service members are more patriotic than
those who are not in the military; 54 percent
think the average member of the military has
better moral and ethical values than the
general civilian population.
Almost seven in 10 feel that the average
American routinely misunderstands their
experience, and slightly more than four in 10
believe the expressions of appreciation
showered upon veterans often at airports,
bars and sporting events are just saying
what people want to hear. More than 1.4
million vets feel disconnected from civilian
life.
A lot of vets find it easier to talk to each other,
especially about their wartime experiences,
said Jennifer Smolen, who served in Iraq for a
year with an Army Reserve engineer unit and
is now an active member of a Seattle area
American Legion post. Theres a feeling that
civilians who werent there just dont get it.
Moeller, the Texas National Guard sergeant,

returned from his first deployment to Iraq
with back pain so severe he had to sleep sitting
upright. In 2009, when his unit was mobilized
again, he could have waved the medical flag.
But he wanted to head back out with his
buddies to complete the mission, because
thats what I took an oath to do. So he kept
quiet and toughed it out.
When his unit was called up again in 2012 to
go to Afghanistan, he once again tried to
deploy. I can make it one more time, he
thought to himself. But an Army doctor
thought otherwise. Isnt it time you started
taking care of yourself? he suggested.
WATCH VIDEO
Lasting wounds
According to the Defense Department, more
than 51,000 service members have been

wounded in action in Iraq, Afghanistan or in
missions to support the wars. That tally
doesnt include Moeller or hundreds of
thousands of others because the Pentagon
counts only those injured as a direct result of
hostile action. If a wound did not occur on a
combat operation, or it was the result of an
accident, or it was caused by wearing armor
every day for a year, it does not make the list.
But in Iraq and Afghanistan, where there were
no front lines, where improvised explosive
devices were the enemys weapon of choice,
where troops wore bulky protective gear most
of the time, wounds that do not fit the
militarys classic definition became the norm.
Traumatic brain injury. Persistent ringing in
the ears. Elevated blood pressure.
Once troops returned home and the adrenaline
ebbed, they began to confront the cost of all
they wore to protect them, of the bone-jarring
trips in mine-resistant trucks, of inhaling
desert sand pulverized into jagged particles by
armored vehicles. Back pain. Blown-out knees.
Headaches. Chronic coughs.
For more than 1.1 million vets, serving in the
wars has left them in worse physical health,
according to the poll. Eighteen percent
about 470,000 current and former service
members reported being seriously injured
while deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or in
support of the wars. Some of those wounds
have been profoundly life-altering lost
limbs, widespread burns, massive brain
damage. Others are more prosaic, often the
results of accidents or wear and tear on the

body, but nonetheless have saddled veterans
with enduring pain.
Edna Harris, a former Army sergeant who
deployed twice to Iraq, fell out of a five-ton
truck, injuring several vertebrae. When she
went to the medical clinic on her forward
operating base, all she received were some
Motrin pills. Harris is now back home in
Jacksonville, Fla., but persistent back pain
limits her activities. I cant play with my son
like I want to, she said. I cant run after him
or throw a football with him.
Kevin Ivey, who flewhelicopters for a year in
Afghanistan, said that being strapped into a
vibrating aircraft for 10 hours a day while
wearing body armor led to diagnoses of nerve
damage and bone degeneration in his back
and neck. It tore me up pretty good, he said.
Justin Peachee, a sergeant in the Texas Army
National Guard, spent a year as an
infantryman in Iraq, hauling a heavy rucksack,
rifle and ammunition over his armored vest.
His knees now have worn-out cartilage and
leaking fluid sacks. He is 26. I just want my
knees to be my knees again, he said. I dont
want grandpa knees at this point.
One in three veterans surveyed by The Post
and Kaiser said the VA or the Defense
Department has determined they have a
service-connected disability, a ratio that is
almost identical to the VAs overall tally. Most
have no scars. As with Peachee, Ivey and
Harris, their physical wounds are under the
skin, or they are inside the brain.
The poll found that the wars have caused

mental and emotional health problems in 31
percent of vets more than 800,000 of them.
When more specific questions were asked, the
rates increased: 41 percent more than 1
million report having outbursts of anger,
and 45 percent have relationship problems
with their spouse or partner. Both are
indicators of post-traumatic stress and could
suggest that rates of affliction may be higher
than the government has forecast.
Although The Post and Kaiser did not ask
respondents the full battery of questions
typically used to make post-traumatic stress
diagnoses, previous studies conducted for the
Pentagon, including one by the Rand Corp. in
2008, have estimated rates of post-traumatic
stress or major depression at about 20
percent. Time may explain some of the
difference: Every service member experiences
the stress of war differently, and some do not
feel it for years.
For Adam Schiele, a former active-duty
military police officer in the Army, it has taken
a decade. In recent months, he has been
haunted by an Afghan mans plea for medical
assistance for his badly wounded niece at the
gate of a U.S. base and the initial refusal of
American medics, which he describes as
callous, to examine the girl. Nothing went
boom. Nobody died. It happened a decade
ago. But the incident was jostled from the
recesses of his mind in the wake of an assault
on a fellow guard at the federal correctional
institution where he works. Since then,
Schiele, who now finds the memory more vivid

than ever, has been placed on disability leave.
Im sitting at home, hoping it will go away, he
said. Its disheartening. Its discouraging. It
makes you feel inadequate.
Troops dont need to be classified as wounded
in action to have been wounded, he said. A
lot of us got hurt. Some more serious than
others, but a lot of us sacrificed part of our
bodies out there.
WATCH VIDEO
Adjusting to civilian life

Iraq and Afghanistan vets are making
unprecedented use of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, largely because of an Obama
administration decision to provide five years
of free VA health care to all of them. Of the 1.7
million who are no longer serving in the

active, reserve or National Guard forces, more
than 1 million have obtained health-care
services at least once from the VA since 2002
and about 45 percent of them have sought
compensation for service-related disabilities.
By comparison, about 21 percent of those who
fought in the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War filed
similar claims.
The difference between the nearly half seeking
compensation and the third who have received
it may help to explain why almost six in 10
vets believe the VA is doing an only fair or
poor job in meeting the needs of their
comrades.
Under President Obama, the VAs budget has
grown by more than 60 percent over the past
six years, although congressional overseers
and veterans organizations complain that the
department continues to be hobbled by what
they consider a bloated and inefficient
bureaucracy.
Theres always room for improvement, said
VA Secretary Shinseki, who believes the
widespread frustration is rooted not in the
quality of service provided by the VA but in
the delay in processing disability claims,
which he has pledged to eliminate by the end
of next year. Despite the backlog, he
emphasized that this generation of veterans
has been provided benefits, including college
tuition reimbursement through the G.I. Bill
and free health care, in ways that didnt
happen after Vietnam.
Weve asked a lot of this generation, said
Shinseki, a Vietnam War veteran. We owe it

to them."
Overall, more than half of vets say the
government is not doing a good job in
addressing the requirements of this generation
of veterans. But when asked to rate their own
treatment, almost 60 percent say the
governments response is excellent or
good. Vets give even higher marks when it
comes to their own health care, with more
than eight in 10 saying their physical, mental
and emotional needs are being well met.
They are far less sanguine about the transition
to civilian life. Half think the military is not
doing enough to help vets adjust to the world
beyond their U.S. and overseas bases, where
men and women who never had to worry
about where to live or how to write a rsum
now must learn to navigate American streets
and survive job interviews. Just as many say
their own transition to civilian life was either
somewhat or very difficult.
Asked to describe why, in their own words,
slightly more than a quarter said it was
because of employment-related issues, such as
adjusting to a civilian-run workplace. A
similar percentage said the principal challenge
involved the profound differences between
civilian and military life. Among those still in
the military, 43 percent expect a difficult
transition to civilian life.
There are those that are very much in need of
help, but the majority the vast majority
are less in need of a handout than simply a
handshake, an opportunity, said Joint Chiefs
Chairman Dempsey.
Hagel said the military needs to do more to
educate business leaders about the skills
veterans can provide to U.S. corporations.
Theres where were not doing enough, he
said. We need to keep working at it.
Overall, two-thirds of vets feel they possess the
skills and education required to be
competitive in the civilian job market. But
there is a significant difference in views
between officers, who are required to have at
least a bachelors degree, and enlisted
personnel, most of whom do not have college
degrees. Almost a quarter of current and
former enlisted troops think the skills they
have acquired in the military have no use in
civilian employment; only 2 percent of officers
feel the same way.
Enlisted vets also report more severe economic
challenges. Forty-three percent of them have
taken an extra job or worked additional hours
because they need the money, compared with
just 16 percent of officers. A quarter of enlisted
members have had trouble paying their rent or
mortgage; only 11 percent of officers say the
same.
Upon leaving the Marine Corps in 2012, April
White figured she would find a steady job to
support herself and her then-7-year-old son in
North Carolina. Although enlisted, she had
been a sergeant with supervisory experience,
and she had military logistics skills, honed
during a 2007 deployment to Iraq. She sent
out a raft of applications for secretarial jobs
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enough for today's
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and transportation-related work. She landed

just one interview, with an employer who was
See responses
seeking someone with a college degree, which

she lacks.
After four months on unemployment
assistance, she signed up for the only option
she could find as a contractor in
Afghanistan. I thought once I got out [of the
Marines], life was going to be normal, she
said. Instead, she had to explain to her son
that she was going away again. I told him, I
dont want to go to Afghanistan, but I need a
job.
Now back in Jacksonville, N.C., White has
opted to take advantage of the G.I. Bill to
remain close to home, pay her bills and attend
a nearby college, where she is taking
engineering classes. The VA-administered
program, which pays for tuition and provides
a stipend for books, school supplies and
housing, has been used by almost half of all
Iraq and Afghanistan vets. For many, it has
served as a hyperbaric chamber to adjust to
civilian life, allowing them to stay busy and
avoid poverty as they set out to find a postmilitary career.
The days of getting out of the military and
getting a job a good job right away are
over, White said. You have to study, and you
have to be patient and you have to be
lucky.
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WATCH VIDEO
Reconsidering the wars

Despite their overwhelming pride and
negligible regret, the veterans look back on the
necessity of the conflicts with decidedly mixed
feelings. Only 53 percent of them believe the
war in Afghanistan has been worth fighting,
and just 44 percent say the same for Iraq.
Slightly more than a third almost 900,000
vets strongly believe the Iraq war was not
worth it.
Those figures are moderately higher than the
population as a whole, but they nonetheless
reveal a fundamental nuance in attitudes
among the all-volunteer military: Many
among this generation of vets regard their
service as a profession almost half signed up
intending to serve for at least 20 years and
they have divorced their individual missions
from the worthiness of the overall wars.
Right, wrong or indifferent, it was something

we signed up to do, said Kenneth Harmon, a
retired Marine master sergeant who served for
23 years and deployed to Iraq and
Afghanistan. It was our job. We got orders.
We followed them.
That detachment was easier for those who saw
value in the wars. When I see people smile
because were there, when I see kids happy
that there are American troops with boots on
the ground over there, it had always
reaffirmed my belief that we were doing the
right thing, said Santino Fort, a retired Air
Force technical sergeant who deployed twice
to Afghanistan and once to Iraq.
Others have grown increasingly frustrated as
they have heard of developments in both
nations, of Afghan President Hamid Karzai
refusing to sign a bilateral security agreement
with the United States, of the Iraqi city of
Fallujah falling to al-Qaeda militants spilling
over from Syria. For Peachee, the National
Guard sergeant with grandpa knees, Iraq
now feels like a big waste of time.
We turned it over, and its gone back to chaos
and anarchy, he said. The government and
the citizenry dont have respect for anything
that we fought for.
But that has not soured his view of the Guard.
I joined because I want to do interesting
things, he said. A few months ago, he
reenlisted for six more years.
The military, which was showered with money
to grow its ranks and acquire new equipment

over the past decade, probably will be far
smaller when his enlistment ends. And it
almost certainly will include more women
serving in ground combat roles, a change that
half of all post-9/11 vets believe will not make
much difference on military effectiveness.
Current and former members of the Navy were
most supportive almost two-thirds of them
say the Pentagons decision to roll back a ban
on women in combat positions will not affect
war fighting while the Marines were the
most skeptical: 45 percent of them feel that
doing so will have a negative impact on the
force.
Although women were kept from ground
combat jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan, many
found themselves in harms way. Thousands of
others served in key positions on headquarters
staffs, in hospitals and within support units.
Some were generals.
Although the military is fielding the most
gender-integrated force in U.S. history, almost
half of female vets say it is not doing enough to
prevent sexual assault among service
members. Among men, four in 10 share that
view.
In a recent VA survey of 1,500 women who
deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, one in four
said they experienced sexual assault defined
as any unwanted contact from groping to rape
during their deployments.
Just being a woman was an additional
stressor, said Melissa Ross, one of the Post-
Kaiser poll respondents, who deployed to

Afghanistan as a staff sergeant three times and
always wore an extra knife strapped to her
back. Just being a female. Just the amount of
fear of What if? What if you have that one
airman or Marine or Army guy who doesnt
know you and looks at you just as a female?
That was the biggest stressor for me daily.
That crossed my mind way more than, What if
we hit an IED?
When it comes to their most-senior
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commander, the vets decisively prefer George
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percent of them think he has been a good

commander in chief despite his decisions to
bring troops home from Iraq, wind down the
war in Afghanistan and increase resources for
veterans. By contrast, nearly two-thirds of
them think Bush, who launched both wars,
was a good commander in chief.
Their views of the two presidents appear to be
shaped less by political affiliation than by
concern over the Obama administrations
plans to reduce the size of the military, trim
benefits for future service members and
curtail the purchase of some costly new
weapons systems. Nearly half of vets regard
themselves as political independents. Among
those who identify with a party, the
Republican-Democratic split is only 27
percent to 17 percent.
WATCH VIDEO
Lifelong support
The vets political philosophy is more striking:
44 percent describe themselves as
conservative, and 29 percent say they are
moderates. One-fifth of them are selfdescribed liberals.
But when asked if they would be willing, in
these times of federal government deficits, to
support a reduction in benefits to future
generations of troops, they are
overwhelmingly opposed, even if it contributes
to future budget shortfalls. Only 12 percent
feel that benefits should be curtailed, despite
warnings from Defense Department leaders
that growing health-care and pension costs are
eating into funds for training and equipment.
When it comes to sharing the responsibility of
care with the private sector, 63 percent of vets
think that they merit special advantages from

employers when applying for jobs. By
contrast, four-fifths of all Americans feel
employers should provide advantages to vets
during the hiring process, according to a
separate Kaiser Family Foundation survey
conducted in December.
The militarys retirement program awards
pensions and lifetime family health care to
those who have served 20 years or more. The
system, which provides nothing to those who
spend less than two decades in uniform, has
left many Iraq and Afghanistan vets
including those who signed up after
September 2001, were deployed multiple
times but then chose to leave the military
without any retirement benefits.
The vets, however, do not see it as a trade-off.
More than half feel the 20-year system
provides about the right amount of
compensation to retirees. But they also want
to increase benefits to those who served in the
wars and then left before hitting the twodecade mark. Slightly more than half say that
group receives fewer benefits than they
deserve.
Among them is Jeffrey Arena, a former Army
sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division who
had two year-long combat tours in Iraq and
one in Afghanistan. He had planned to serve
20 years in the Army and then use his infantry
skills to land a law enforcement job. Last year,
however, his hip and leg began to hurt during
his morning physical-fitness routine. A doctor
at Fort Campbell, Ky., told him that a leg
injury he suffered in Iraq during a 2006

mission to pursue insurgents was far more
serious than he had been told by field medics
at the time: He had fractured his femur and
torn cartilage in his hip.
The military offered him a hip replacement,
which he turned down. Im only 35, and I
dont want a hip replacement at 35, he said.
There would be no more running or jumping.
I have three kids. I want to be active with
them.
Replacement or not, the diagnosis spelled the
end of his military career. Because he was
unable to pass his annual physical-fitness test,
the Army moved to retire him on medical
grounds. But it deemed him only 20 percent
disabled, which meant that he would be
ineligible for a military pension or lifetime
health coverage, even though he spent 38
months at war and suffered a serious injury
while deployed.
I beat up my body for this nation, he said. It
should count for something.
Arenas last day as a soldier was Feb. 13. In the

months leading up to his separation from the
Schlaganfall-Studie
Army, he sought to participate in a military-
clinlife.de/Schlaganfall-Studie
funded internship program that allows

departing troops to explore new civilian
Sind Sie fr eine Forschungsstudie

geeignet? Hier erfahren Sie mehr.
careers. The initiative has been touted by

Army generals as a key step in the transition
from military life. But when he asked the
commander of his unit for permission, he was
turned down. They told me they didnt want

to pay me for working at another job, he said.
The Army says, You can, but my command
said no.
Worried that his hip injury will disqualify him
from law enforcement jobs, he plans to head
to flight school in Arizona, where he will live
out of a trailer for a year while his family
remains at their home in Kentucky.
In the Army, youre taught to never leave a
man behind. Well, theyve basically left a man
behind, he said.
It was easy to send us off to war. Taking care
of those who need help and there are lots of
us will be much tougher. But if our nation is
going to send us to war, it has a responsibility
to do right by us when we come home.
Scott Clement and Peyton M. Craighill
contributed to this report.
WATCH VIDEO
Editors picks
The last
casualties
One family, two

sacrifces
As the long war in

Afghanistan ends, risks
In a war few Americans
still prove real for those
fought, the Wise family
fighting.
would pay an awful price.
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chieftrollhunter wrote:
9:56 PM GMT+0200 [Edited]
And by the way, now, unfathomably, right wingers
like John McCain are pushing for yet another war
--while they excoriate Obama for being "weak."
The truth, of course, as they well know, is that
there are two options: get involved militarily
which, given this story and the stakes, is
unthinkable. Or do exactly what the president is
doing: bring every economic and world pressure
to bear you can on Putin. All else is bluster.
Thank God, though, "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran"
McCain didn't become president or in a couple of
years the Post would be writing another one of
these tragic stories.
Like
Reply
Jtati wrote:
10:01 PM GMT+0200
We have two choices - watch a
quagmire from afar or be part of it. I
side with chieftrollhunter.
Like
Reply
LazySocialCommentator wrote:
9:55 PM GMT+0200
"More than half of the 2.6 million Americans
dispatched to fight the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan struggle with physical or mental
health problems stemming from their service, feel
disconnected from civilian life and believe the
government is failing to meet the needs of this
generations veterans"
Hmm... less than 1% of the population has served

in these wars, but conveniently trot them out for
whatever political cause of the day arises... The
civilian world has sacrificed very little... and the
VA is completely inept despite millions of dollar
toward improvements... I wonder why vets feel
this way?
Like
Reply
Jtati wrote:
10:02 PM GMT+0200
I agree with, " The civilian world has
sacrificed very little..." but why not "trot
out" people who in many, many case
are being ignored?
Like
Reply
Desertstraw wrote:
9:35 PM GMT+0200
As one of the remaining World War II GI's, I have
never approved of the all-volunteer military. No
president, with Congress not declaring war but
tacitly supporting it, should be allowed to get us
into war without a declaration of war, a draft from
all of the general public, and taxing everybody to
pay for it. LBJ got away with the Viet Nam war by
giving draft exemptions to college students
enabling most of the middle class to opt out while
corrupting our colleges who accepted unqualified
students just for the money. The low state of our
higher learning dates from that time for we have
never gone back to the old standards.
What disturbs me about the information in this

article is the large percentage of rural southerners
in the military. Couple this with the previously
reported significant number of criminals and
people with mental problems and we may have a
time bomb with an unrepresentative segment of
our population controlling and knowing how to use
weapons. Remember that Rome started as a
republic, which our nation's founders emulated,
and descended into a tyranny where the military
alone chose the Caesars.
Like
Reply
bbface212 wrote:
9:41 PM GMT+0200
What disturbs me about the information
in this article is the large percentage of
rural southerners in the military.
===============================
Your insulting and arrogant implication

aside, that's been the case for a long
time. When I was in the Army in the late
1980's we called them MAGs (from
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia)
Like
Reply
1115swo wrote:
9:46 PM GMT+0200
I served in Beirut, Lebanon, with the last
USN/USMC Amphibious Ready Group
Deployed to that country between
November 1983 and April 1984. I
learned the following the hard way: If
someone asks you to get entangled in a
foreign military "presence" or "action,"
get verifiable answers to the following
questions--for who, for what, and why?
If those questions cannot be answered
coherently--you (we) should NOT be
over there to begin with!
Like
Reply
Pogo4 wrote:
9:55 PM GMT+0200
Luckily Reagan, against
expectations, ran from
Lebanon realizing it was a
quagmire after our Marine
Barracks and Embassy were
blown up with great loss of
lives.
Like
BradfordBurnstein wrote:
9:52 PM GMT+0200
Forcing folks to serve caused more
mental problems, lack of emotional
stability, taking of lives, fratricide, etc.
Shows like MASH and others exhibit
how far previous / earlier generations
were willing to go to escape forced and
/ or mandatory service in the miltary.
We have had fewer problems with the
volunteer force and generation(s).
Like
Reply
Jtati wrote:
10:03 PM GMT+0200
Well said and thanks for your service.
Ignore bb.
Like
Reply
sealogic wrote:
9:16 PM GMT+0200
Dubyah will never live the Iraq disaster down....
Cheney will never care about what he wrought.
Dubyah was an ignorant clown, Cheney, his ring
master.
Like
Reply
9:27 PM GMT+0200
He shouldn't live it down. It was worse
than a disgrace. It was criminal. Here's
another mistake Obama made, IMO.
Completely letting Bush et. al off the
hook -- for Iraq AND 9/11. If the parties
were switched, Darrell Issa would not
relent until he brought impeachment
charges. Look at how fiercely he's gone
after the phony Benghazi scandal.
Like
Reply
Pogo4 wrote:
Bush was and is personally a good man,
but an ideologue and ignorant about the
Middle East. Condelezza Rice should
have told him it was a mistake to invade
Iraq the second time, but apparently
she was just a "yes" man. Anyway now
she is calling for military action over
Crimea, so perhaps she was as bad as
Cheney, although I doubt she had the
same financial ties to war industries as
Cheney.
Like
Reply
9:34 PM GMT+0200
"A good man"? Sorry, anyone
who acted the way he did
("now, watch this drive),
signed off on the things he
did, is not a good man. He
may be a fun doofus to have a
beer with when you watch the
NCAA tourney, but that's as
far as I'll go.
Like
9:35 PM GMT+0200
And by the way, how do you
know that he's "personally" a
good man? Do you know him
personally?
Like
Pogo4 wrote:
9:39 PM GMT+0200
Bush was a lousy president,
but when the Republicans lost
to Obama in the midst of a
financial panic and danger of
depression, he asked Obama
what he wanted to do to
address the economic crisis
and helped him set the stage
to do it. He also refrained from
attacking Obama on foreign
policy unlike most
Republicans who have been
quite loose with the truth in
their attacks. I think Bush was
a very flawed President, but a
man with principles and good
intentions.
Wilson was also a President

with good intentions but let
himself be bamboozled by the
French and British at the end
of WWI and suckered into a
vengeful peace that led to
World War II.
Like
View More Replies
chucka1 wrote:
9:11 PM GMT+0200
The Iraq war was an insanely stupid idea. Millions
knew this and expressed their opposition from the
very beginning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_the_.
Like
Reply
Pogo4 wrote:
9:16 PM GMT+0200
It is difficult for the Congress to counter
lies by the Administration and go
against a war - Vietnam - Gulf of Tonkin
lies for the LBJ escalation, Iraq - Bush
lies on WMD. Secstate Colin Powell
was given lies to report to the UN. He
was furious when he found out they
were lies, but too much of a good
solider to publicly attack his commander
in Chief.
Like
Reply
Chortling_Heel wrote:
9:27 PM GMT+0200
'Kuwait Incubator Babies'

'Quarter-million Iraqi troops
massed on Saudi border'
Like
Pogo4 wrote:
9:34 PM GMT+0200
Sadam invaded Saudi and was
repulsed. The Saudis insisted
on fighting the Iraqis
themselves because of
politicial difficulties internally
of .letting the Americans throw
them out Saudi Arabia. The
book "Inside the Kingdom"
gives a fascinating story about
Saudi Arabia, its troubles with
internal fanatics and
disagreements with
neighboring Arab countries.
Like
Yes, remember Ari Fleischer's dark
warning: "people need to watch what
they say." Anti -war groups were
investigated and harassed and called
everything but traitors to this country,
when the truth is, they were dead right -pun intended.
Like
Reply
9:33 PM GMT+0200
Back then, the GOP bullied
anyone who spoke against
Bush, saying they were unAmerican. Today? The way
they undercut our president -OUR president -- is nothing
short of treasonous, calling
him everything from Hitler to
Neville Chamberlain (that's
hard to do, by the way.)
Like
9:39 PM GMT+0200
Worse than stupid. Criminal. Thousands
of our men and women and, according
to most estimates, Iraqis in the 100s of
thousands stare up from their graves.
Not to mention the hundreds of
thousands maimed and psychologically
scarred. And not to mention that Bush
fought the war "off the books." And the
GOP has the gall to talk about profligate
spending by Obama.
Like
Reply
sevenrock7 wrote:
8:56 PM GMT+0200
Not surprised to see such complaining, so many of
this era feels entitled to everything. Their
organization, IAVA, segregates themselves from
those who did not deploy, for whatever reason.
The Post 9-11 veteran gets better benefits than
those who served before them. They go to college
while deployed. I was in an on-line Masters
program with many who were deployed at the
time. Many feel owed despite all the pay and
benefits they receive now and especially when
deployed Even family members get benefits, and
they have more programs than single military
members. What will happen to their sense of
entitlement when the next war rolls around? They
will get kicked tot he curb like those who before
them. So many of these military members act like
they work for Wal-Mart. They look like slobs,
especially in and around Washington DC. These
are folks who deployed with satellite TV,
Starbucks, Baskin & Robins and Burger King...
What a joke, while those who left the FOB served
admirably but those who stayed behind hung out.
I would stop whining and suck it up. Tough to get
a job or medical treatment for mst of us already...
welcome to the real world
Like
Reply
9:05 PM GMT+0200
This shows how little you know and how
you have not done the research WRT
the figures and money, or the war,
necessary to make the statement
above.
First, adjusted for inflation and

comparing dollar to dollar then and now,
this generation gets less than Veterans
of previous wars.
Second, there were more opportunities

for job creation then...every historian
and author states this fact.
Third, many of us never had the fast

food, housing, or perks you mention
above. My unit was in Kuwait, preparing
for war, intel, etc., several months
before any war started.
Finally, my generation sucks

nothing...we will move forward and give
us our change for the cash money.
http://www.facebook.com/pitchforkburnste
Like
Reply
sanfordflg wrote:
8:49 PM GMT+0200
I was in, and I mean "IN" the Korean War. You
know...the "forgotten war". I'm sure we had many
GI Joes that suffered the above mentioned
symptoms, but not very much, if any, was said, or
done about it from our government, and media.
I'm glad to see ther notice this has been given.
I blame Bush and Obama for getting us in, and
KEEPING us in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We ought to make the leaders of countries LEAD

us into combat. In that way, maybe we wouldn't
t have any conflicts.
Like
Reply
8:52 PM GMT+0200
Anyone who knows my comments on
this board knows I am a staunch
supporter of president Obama -- and
continue to be. Bush/Cheney's push to
get us into Iraq, in my opinion, is
criminal. Obama was right: Afghanistan
was the right war -- but it was the right
war THEN. Obama's "surge" into
Afghanistan was worse than useless.
To me--and I know I'll get howls on this
-- it's his biggest mistake (that, and not
pushing for single payer.) There's no
way we should have committed more of
our men, women, and treasure.
Like
Reply
8:53 PM GMT+0200
AND, after he PROMISED
that, unlike Bush, he would
not put our men and women in
harm's way unnecessarily.
Like
Prof Robinson wrote:

8:56 PM GMT+0200
especially since he blatantly
ignored all his generals'
advice and wrote HIS war
plan on six sheets of yellow
legal paper, demanding his
generals execute it. The
failure is all his.
And even if you disagreed with

Iraq...certainly you can't agree
with Obama screwing the final
negotiations, and abandoning
them to Iran and Al-Queda.
talk about a waste of all the
blood and sacrifice...not to
mention the millions who
stood up for democracy, and
are now under constant terror
attack. Obama actually
managed to lose a war that
was 99% won.
Like
Pogo4 wrote:
With respect to single payer Business Week magazine
reported nearly a year before
ACA was enacted that the
insurance companies were
successful in lobbying against
single payer. Nixon and
Clinton tried to enact a similar
program, but were stymied. If
Obama had insisted on single
payer (which would have
permitted at least a 10 percent
cut in premiums) Obama
couldn't have enaced ACA.
The insurance companies
take 15 or 20 percent of the
premium under ACA (even
more just before ACA) instead
of the 5 percent they used to
take 25 years ago for their
cost and risk.
If there were a single payer

system each age group would
be a single risk group and we
wouldn't have the problem of
high income people with
individual policies being in an
expensive risk pool (the
exchanges) with an inordinate
number of sick people. Maybe
a future administration can
see the wisdom of changing to
single payer - but Obama
can't do it.
Like
View More Replies
Pogo4 wrote:
Prof Robinson - it was the Bush
Administration folks that threw the
Sunnis out of their jobs in the army and
govenrment of Iraq, putting in Shias,
friends of Iran. Maliki went to Iran to get
his Presidency blessed before he could
take office. His oppression of the
Sunnis is a major reasib for the civil war
now going on in Iraq.
Good that we got out of that useless counterproductive war in Iraq. Would
have been good to leave Afghanistan
once we got Bin Laden (by invading
Pakistan). Unfortunately some folks
want to pretend there is some other
reason than revenge against Al Qaeda
for being in Afghanistan. The Pashtun
have always fought against invaders the British, the Russians, and now us.
When there aren't foreigners they can
fight against the local Tajiks and
Uzbeks and each other. Thinking that
we are there to help the Afghans is
naive. The corrupt Karzai won't sign the
agreement to keep US troops in. The
three main Presidential candidates say
they will ask the US to stay - hopefully
we won't.
The only reason to stay in Afghanistan is

to help Pakistan. But Pakistan has not
been our friend and jailed a doctor
accused of helping us to find Bin Laden
next to their west point. We should
withdraw from South Asia and let India
and China - both stronger than Pakistan
control their neighbor. If they need
humanitarian aid they should ask their
buddy, China.
Like
Reply
8:49 PM GMT+0200
By the way, has anyone been able to verify their
email addresses? When I click on the link I get
beachballed.
Like
Reply
chucka1 wrote:
9:14 PM GMT+0200
No - this is not working. I've tried 2
different addresses. I can successfully
exchange email with WAPO customer
service - so it isn't obviously a case of
these emails being spam filtered.
Like
Reply
This whole legacy of pain for what? To serve our
Blackwater overlords. Heartbreaking.
Like
Reply
8:46 PM GMT+0200
And as Cheney and Rumsfeld and Bush
and the Koch Brothers, tinkle their
scotches by the warm fire, wondering
whether they should buy that extra
multimillion dollar home or that sweet
boat down at the marina, the legacy of
pain deepens for our men and women,
many of whom stare up from their
graves, others who are maimed
physically, psychologically, or both for
the rest of their lives.
Like
Reply
clark clint wrote:

8:43 PM GMT+0200
Here is a major part of the problem is that military
people are so stupid about anything but the
military and we don't stand up for each other and
only do when it effect us, so divided we get our
butts kicked.
I need to be in front of Congress showing exactly

how each home was taken from the military
families, but heck they do even realize anything
was wrong and are spread across the country
living under bridges or their mother basement and
Jody got their gal and gone!
However the civilian and ex-General running the

VA only care about that monthly check and
double or triple retirement!
Like
Reply
8:43 PM GMT+0200
All the more heartbreaking because they NEVER.
HAD. TO. GO.
Like
Reply

8:57 PM GMT+0200
all the more heartbreaking because you
confuse propaganda for truth. You
should be happy that so many of your
fellow citizens are willing to stand up for
you. Your denial runs deep; the koolaid
flows freely.
Like
Reply
quavaduff wrote:
9:01 PM GMT+0200
i believe it is you who is
confused professor if you
believe we needed to go into
a conventional war with Afgan
or Iraq
Like
John Jacob Jingleheimer

9:05 PM GMT+0200
Prof don't argue...he's a
Red...the only conflict he likes
is Crimea...the only people he
adores are Stalin, Saddam,
Mao and Ho. Being a Red
qualifies you to lie, cheat,
steal, imprison, send to
concentration camps and
murder. It's pretty much like
being a "Progressive.
Like
jeanann1 wrote:
8:38 PM GMT+0200
This Congress, especially the Republican
members, should be brought up on charges of
criminal neglect for the way they have treated our
veterans and their families. To hell with the
deficits. Stop subsidizing big oil and agriculture
and instead use the billions for our surviving vets
and their families. A POX ON CONGRESS!
Like
Reply
Community-Organizer-in-Chief wrote:
Obama is definitely not a leadership material, for
anything, at any level, as his five years at the
White have shown crystal clearly!
Like
Reply
sthanam wrote:
9:02 PM GMT+0200
Compared to who? Can you name one
who is better?
Like
Reply
justfactsplz wrote:
7:57 PM GMT+0200
Best way to honor our war vets? Never vote
republican again.
Like
Reply
raindogs wrote:
7:58 PM GMT+0200
That and give them a job or help them
find one.
Like
Reply
justfactsplz wrote:
7:58 PM GMT+0200
Absolutely.
Like
bbface212 wrote:
7:59 PM GMT+0200
I'm sure our vets love being used for
your stupid political cheap shots.
Like
Reply
raindogs wrote:
8:03 PM GMT+0200
and for your snarky retorts as
well ...huh?
Like
justfactsplz wrote:
8:04 PM GMT+0200
Go back and listen to Romney
strategies in the ME.
Like
wintersoldier wrote:
No he's right. Republicans
don't care about labor.
Freedom for them is the
Freedom to underpay
subordinates. Supply side,
trickle down always was a
sham. Just Twisted.
Like
View More Replies

Riiiight....because it's so much better for
the military to elect a democrat with
open hostility for them. And that's why,
buried in the article above, is curious
little fact: vets prefer Bush's leadership
over Obama's almost two-to-one.
Like
Reply
raindogs wrote:
8:13 PM GMT+0200
Yes, the cult of personality is a
fine way to run a country (and
I am talking about both sides
of the political isle)
Like

8:15 PM GMT+0200
If you are actually suggesting
that Bush is a "cult of
personality", you're insane.
Obama, clearly has the cult
surrounding him. That's
irrefutable. How may people
fainted at Bush rallies? Did
Bush get a peace prize for not
doing anything? You can't
possibly pretend that BOTH
sides do this.
Like
raindogs wrote:
8:18 PM GMT+0200
All politicians are front men for
their political machine which
means they are picked for that
job by the machine because
the machine feels their
persona will win. So yes...I do
think that. I mean hell, we are
after all talking about politics
Like
View More Replies
View More Replies
7:53 PM GMT+0200
As a former Executive Branch employee, POTUS'
staff has done more for Veterans than y'all see.
Congress has not, or is not doing enough for

Veterans. They and their committees are the
group responsible for oversight of DVA / VA, and
what happens with Veterans. You cannot blame
POTUS for something Congress should be
resolving.
Problem is, Congress does not want anything to

happen because the contract and consulting
dollars fund their districts and votes. Thus, they
are not willing to force investigations or oversight
because it may keep them from being reelected to
their coveted office(s).
http://www.facebook.com/pitchforkburnstein
Like
Reply
7:58 PM GMT+0200
If Congress was smart and adept with
their intelligence and information efforts
for services; staffers [offices and
committees] would be reading and
monitoring the comments section here.
That was one of the first things I was
taught. Then, they would be calling
upon these Veterans for testimony in
DVA / VA hearings.
If they were really smart, they should try

to be first in doing so...just a thought.
Like
Reply
7:58 PM GMT+0200
If Congress was smart and adept with
their intelligence and information efforts
for services; staffers [offices and
committees] would be reading and
monitoring the comments section here.
That was one of the first things I was
taught. Then, they would be calling
upon these Veterans for testimony in
DVA / VA hearings.
If they were really smart, they should try

to be first in doing so...just a thought.
Like
Reply

8:08 PM GMT+0200
oh please...I know a number of people
that are running veteran's organizations
in three states. Obama is NOT helping
vets. Not in any way shape or form just ask anyone who is actually in that
field.
Like
Reply
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After the Wars: A legacy of pain and pride | The Washington Post

A legacy of pain and pride

More than half of the 2.6 million

physical or mental health problems stemming

Published on March 29, 2014

civilian life and believe the government is

troops to deploy multiple times and operate

AFTER THE WARS:

services provided to them by the Department

This story is the first in a multi-part series

of Veterans Affairs, the Pentagon and other

examining the effects of the Afghanistan and Iraq

government agencies. Almost 60 percent say

wars on the 2.6 million American troops who

the VA is doing an only fair or poor job in

served and fought. Find the full results of a

and half say the military is lagging in its efforts

Even so, the vast majority of recent veterans

generation of war fighters.

percent figure. Theyre proud of what they did.

Some of their present-day challenges

impact is going to be.

Who they are

than a half-million service members spent

Slightly more than half yearn for their time in

Moeller, the Texas National Guard sergeant,

than 51,000 service members have been

results of accidents or wear and tear on the

The poll found that the wars have caused

Schiele, who now finds the memory more vivid

Adjusting to civilian life

million who are no longer serving in the

Shinseki, a Vietnam War veteran. We owe it

Is the government doing

and transportation-related work. She landed

just one interview, with an employer who was

seeking someone with a college degree, which

Reconsidering the wars

Right, wrong or indifferent, it was something

to grow its ranks and acquire new equipment

Kaiser poll respondents, who deployed to

Did you serve?: Weve created a Facebook group

commander, the vets decisively prefer George

for those who fought in the wars in Iraq and

W. Bush to Obama. Only a third approve of

Afghanistan to connect with one another and share

the way Obama is handling his job, and 42

resources and experiences.Join here.

percent of them think he has been a good

think that they merit special advantages from

injury he suffered in Iraq during a 2006

Arenas last day as a soldier was Feb. 13. In the

Army, he sought to participate in a military-

funded internship program that allows

Sind Sie fr eine Forschungsstudie

careers. The initiative has been touted by

turned down. They told me they didnt want

One family, two

As the long war in

In a war few Americans

still prove real for those

fought, the Wise family