The top story on today's
AlterNet home page is
A Soldier Speaks: Zechariah. It is described as
...the first in a continued series of profiles of some of the tens of thousands of Iraq War veterans who have come home bearing the scars of battle -- emotional and physical wounds that may never heal...
and tells the story of Zechariah, a young man from Washington who joined the Army at age 21 and spent time in Iraq as a medic, primarily in the northern areas, mostly populated by Kurds and Turkmen.
(continued below)
What he describes is grim:
I also worked with a lot of the local hospitals. The whole time we were there, the hospitals kept getting worse and worse. They never had any supplies or new machines installed. Even some of the more simple machinery, like X-ray machines, were never replaced. Every time I went into one of the hospitals I almost emptied my aid bag so they could have sterile catheters and needles. I couldn't believe my eyes to see that they were having to reuse these supplies because they couldn't get replacement equipment. They didn't even have soap.
Amazing. Not even soap. In hospitals. And kudos to this brave young medic for handing his supplies over to them, genuinely trying to do something positive for human beings without regard to national origin or faith.
Deeper into the article, he tells of his feelings on the way home:
I felt elated to have survived, but then I felt guilty for surviving when so many in our unit hadn't made it home. Three of these were personal friends. I sat on the flight out of Iraq and asked why was I chosen to make it and why were these guys not allowed to go home. I thought before I went to Iraq that I would come home feeling like a hero. All I felt on that flight home was shame, guilt, and sadness. I still feel the same a year later.
Asked how he's doing now, he says:
I have nightmares almost every night involving Iraq and those that died. I have been working with someone that specializes in war PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]. She has helped me understand the dreams and keep them from being triggered.
He then goes on to describe the sadness and anger at being lied to, and debunks the notion that the
morale of the troops is high, adding that frontline troops are not allowed to speak to the media without the presence of an overseeing officer, Major or higher.
Nothing new here, really, I know. Just another human being damaged by the lies and greed that now substitute for public and foreign policy. What makes me wonder is the aftermath, some years from now, when the thousands of young Americans damaged in invisible ways by this nightmare are back, and ostensibly reintegrated into society, yet still haunted by things like Zechariah describes.
There are also some "forum-style" comments below the main article, including some incredibly trollish nonsense from someone calling himself FlapJackSeven. Zechariah himself joins in some of them:
My own brother just got back last week. I have been talking with him to see how he handled it. He was a machine gunner. He says its hard to sleep when you see the faces of all those you have killed. He was a hard core Republican and voted for Bush. He was always good for a healthy debate. I asked him yesterday what he thought. He said the same thing, we can't win this. Its too out of control. He said the whole thing is a waste of time and people.
We need to hear more of these individual stories, I think. And since this is the first in a series, as noted above, I suspect we will hear at least some. And thanks as well to all those from "inside" who have posted here, or had their notes home forwarded, thanks for telling us your stories, and reminding us that it's not a faceless abstracted "Army" over there, it's young Americans, each with a story to tell.
Be safe, all of you over there, or on your way over there. And for those of us who simply read, go and read the whole article.