Month: June 2018

Moral Injury 24 x 7

MatthewHoh Uncategorized

From Mike Hastie, a combat medic in the United States War against Vietnam:

Three weeks ago, I had a personal friend commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. She was not a veteran, nor is she someone identifiable by any of my activist friends. She did, however, suffer from severe moral injuries. Yesterday, I had a conversation with an Iraq veteran who was in Iraq in 2007. No one in his military unit were killed, but after they came home, six of his friends eventually committed suicide. The Iraq veteran I talked with attempted suicide, but eventually got help, and is doing quite well now.  Before I had the conversation with that veteran yesterday, I was working on a piece that I had titled, ” Moral Injury 24 X 7.”  This is that completed writing:

Moral Injury 24 X 7

“You” are walking around in circles,

morbidly depressed and withdrawn.

Nothing makes any sense anymore.

But, it never made any sense long  before

“You” ever went to war.

It was simply “your” turn to find out the

absolute truth, and finally realize why

countless veterans throughout history

wound up in suicide cemeteries.

“You” never knew about betrayal,

because those who went before

“you” were never allowed to speak.

The public just wants heroes.

They do not want to know the

veteran’s mindfield.

The magnitude of “your” illness is equal

to the depth of “your” silence.

Mike Hastie

Army Medic Viet Nam

June 20, 2018

Believe Peace is Possible

MatthewHoh War and Conflict , , , ,
 
You won’t see much of this on US media, but the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan government have declared a ceasefire for the Eid Holiday, something the Afghan government has just extended and something the US military has not committed to.
These photos are of Afghan soldiers and police alongside Afghan Taliban fighters celebrating the ceasefire with one another. No clearer proof is needed to understand the absurdity and criminality of this war, and the other wars of this world, and the perennial suffering of the common man and woman, forced to take sides, often simply because of some form of sectarian identity or allegiance which is usually obligated only by the circumstances of birth. Meanwhile it is the powerful, the wealthy and the corporatized, almost always corrupted and wicked, in spite of moral and patriotic protestations otherwise, who trumpet and proclaim the need for war and who continue these wars despite the desire of the masses of people for peace.
Don’t believe the media, the politicians and the generals. Peace is possible. It always has been.