I’m following a series on the Huffington Post called “Beyond the Battlefield.” It is gut-wrenching, disturbing, discouraging, infuriating, and it’s also my duty as a counselor and as a fellow human to be aware of this.
Politics are irrelevant here. Whether you support or condemn the wars, war in general, our military, militaries in general–no matter, I’m talking about the injured people, both the soldiers and their vicariously wounded families, who are represented in these stories.
The problem, in one sentence, is this: The military is great at repairing acute injuries, terrible at providing rest-of-life care, and atrocious at providing training and support for the spouses and parents who become the wounded soldiers’ full-time caregivers. This problem is creating a profoundly significant psychosocial upheaval, right under our noses, and most people are fully unaware of it.
I’m asking you to follow the link and read at least some of this. You don’t have to do anything else–I’m not suggesting you make a donation, volunteer time, shake a veteran’s hand–nothing else. Just look. If all your heart can bear is to be more aware of their struggle, that alone will help.
