Having been home from Iraq for over a year now, I have very interesting conversations with my little brother, Maxwell. We have talked about a lot of things, none of which I have shared here. Today, well today is different.
Today, he seemed a bit dejected.
Text message to me from downstairs in the living room: "The UN just put the lock down on N. Korea." The blackberry was on my jeans away from me so I didn't pick it up.
It buzzes again. Text message from Max again: "N. Korea said screw your resolution, we will not stand down. Well, I guess you will be getting calls from me from somewhere in about a year."
I text back: "Yeah, I been watching it from in the bed. Think I'll grab a book and go to Starbucks."
He texts back: "Cool, I think I'll go sell my G5 over at the school."
Max moved in with me last month because times have gotten tough for this Iraq veteran. He was rooming with another Iraq veteran, John, who would always come and go sneakily, couldn't focus or keep a job and finally they had to move because John was three months behind on his rent. The landlord/ owner of this nice house in suburban Orlando had been very generous in letting John be late on the rent in that he was a defender of America's freedom and even in asking them to leave told them that it wouldn't be held against their credit rating.
Max would have had more money had the Army made good on promised benefits. Having served in Iraq for over a year, it was his understanding that he was entitled to veteran educational benefits. He enrolled in Full Sail, a digital media, AV and film school and spent money out of his pocket expecting to be at least partially compensated. Having graduated with an Associate's Degree in Recording Arts and with spirits high after several conversations with the VA, he was informed last week that his check for $80 would be in his account by the end of the month.
So now, cramped in a single bedroom with his girlfriend and her two-year-old daughter, he spends his time in the living room, watching CNN when he isn't working tossing produce at one job, interning as a recording engineer in two studios, performing recording engineering duties for his church and he even was a part of some 'we'll pay you experiment' that he didn't tell me much about.
We come from poverty. We grew up having very little, except promise. The promise was that if you worked hard, you could have better. The promise was that if you signed on the dotted line and did your part, you would receive your just due. I went to the military in 1988 after scoring a 4.0 my freshman year, much to the horror of my mother, a history professor at a state university in TN. My father joined the military to escape the dangerous prejudice of Bellbuckle, TN and every now and then talks about how cold it was in Newfoundland. Both sides of my family are military men; it was an opportunity and for some, the only opportunity.
With that opportunity however, there used to be a promise. The primary promise was that we wouldn't be put in harm's way unless it was absolutely necessary. I won't discuss that. The next promise was that if we were in harm's way, that we would have everything possible to complete the mission and come home whole. I won't discuss that. But the one promise, the promise of opportunity, was that if I signed on the dotted line and voluntarily put myself in harm's way, that if I made it home, I would be taken care of. To break that promise, breaks the spirits of individual Americans who left everything, family, friends, way of life, job, hobbies, relationships, interests, churches, community service work, their entire lives to put their lives on the line, regardless of circumstance.
But for Max, to watch John Bolton call the UN efforts on N. Korea "weak and feckless" and to watch Ambassador Yon reject the resolution all the while waiting on his $80 check from the VA was just too much. So he's going to sell his G5. Wow.
[Update:] My brother just texted me to say thank you to all my 'friends' and that we definitely need to talk about his experiences and where he is. So thanks for this overwhelming response; I have made more inroads with him in one day than in the last six months because of my 'friends', my brother and sister Kossacks.