MetaFilter posts tagged with Veterans

Military people in cute situations.

nobody — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:53:18 -0800

Soldiers return home after months abroad and are greeted by their very excited dogs. (A compilation of puppy-focused welcome-home videos for Veterans' Day.)

WWII Veteran Speaks on Equality

pashdown — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:31:00 -0800

The woman at my polling place asked me, do I believe in equality for gay and lesbian people? I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her, "What do you think I fought for on Omaha Beach?"

War Makes Monsters of Us All

netbros — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:46:04 -0800

The Warrior Writers Project brings together recent veterans and current service members to be in creative community and utilize art-making processes to express themselves. There is a deep necessity for veterans to create when so much has been shattered and stolen. A profound sense of hope comes from the ability to rebuild and transform.

From Hobby To Passion

hermitosis — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:45:36 -0800

The magic of beadcraft and jewelry-making, brought to you in four parts by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The results can be purchased from her website, with all the proceeds going to Operation Family Fund, a charity which has raised over $1,700,000 for families of soldiers wounded or killed in the Global War On Terrorism. The series is notable for its complete lack of moralizing or comments on a relevant family controversy-- seriously, this is really just about beads, people!

Finally, an end to the last battle of the Gulf War?

googly — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:51:50 -0800

A report presented today to the US Secretary of Veteran's Affairs concludes that Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) is "a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans." While depleted uranium had long been suspected as a cause of the physical and neurological symptoms associated with GWS, the report fingers pesticides and the pyridostigmine bromide pills given to troops to counter the effects of nerve agents. GWS has been the object of immense study and debate since veterans first started complaining of a long list of non-specific symptoms. Frontline has a nice guide to The Last Battle of the Gulf War. It contradicts previous studies, which had found increased reporting of symptoms among veterans, but "no cluster of symptoms that constitute a syndrome unique to Gulf War veterans." It might also lend support to groups fighting for the recognition of other syndromes - clusters of symptoms with no single identifiable cause - including Sick Building Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. And perhaps Carol White will finally figure out what gave her a nosebleed.

"I find myself looking for catharsis."

amyms — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:35:33 -0800

The Boneyard. I’ve come to bear witness to American folly, to rest my eyes on the flying machines that flattened the forests of Southeast Asia, poisoned its people, and changed my life. A personal essay about the long-reaching effects of Agent Orange. For more information about the AMARC [now AMARG] facility visited by the above article's author, go to The AMARC Experience or the Air Force's official page about the site. The Agent Orange Website. Agent Orange Project from Oxfam and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development. Blood Debt, an article about the effects of Agent Orange on the children of Southeast Asia [warning: graphic images]. Previous MetaFilter posts about Agent Orange.

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:03:29 -0800

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Winter Soldier

homunculus — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:15:30 -0800

Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan. "Like Vietnam vets did decades ago, a group of soldiers are poised to speak out about atrocities they say the U.S. committed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Move, Shoot, and Communicate

LeLiLo — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:36:42 -0800

Warrior Writers express themselves using Combat Paper made from their old military uniforms. FAQ. Videos. An associated RI art show has its opening reception tonight. Sunday night there’s a program as well at The Beat Museum in San Francisco.

Last Call

IndigoJones — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:40:58 -0800

With the death of Louis de Cazenave, Lazare Ponticelli is the last surviving French veteran of World War One, and the country has been wondering how to mark the inevitable. By contrast, Germany's response to the recent death of Erich Kaestner has been a more muted affair, indeed, all but unnoted. Meanwhile, Britain's Henry Allingham and Harry Patch and William Stone just keep on going. (For those interested, more comprehensive international lists can be found here and here)

rolling on

madamjujujive — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 11:58:48 -0800

Coming Home - in honor of Veteran's Day, it might be fitting to check in on the recovery of J.R. Salzman, known here on mefi as Logboy.

"What dreams / Will be left / undreamed tonight?"

orthogonality — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 11:10:31 -0800

For 11/11, soldiers' poems of MACV (and interstitial matter):
I can feel traces of my heart / leaving wet rivers / down my manly cheeks.
∞
Stunned now / angry / helpless / bits of torn paper beside / empty red mailbag.
∞
So / You averted looking directly / at their eyes / (That last graveyard / for their fears)
∞
It's getting hard to talk to you, / You don't seem to communicate; / You get upset too easily, / I only asked what it was really like.
∞ (Previously, previously) More from The Vietnam Experience by Bill McDonald: • She begged us, / With her child like screams • Time slipped past us, standing in separate places / ... / He graduated cum laude / And I flunked Vietnam. • But children / My dearest children / I’ve killed / Someone else’s / children And Bill McDonald's "Guest Poets": • I was nothing more / than U.S. Grade A American meat / used for some bureaucrat's political gain. • Weird shadows dance against the twisted strands / And men stare anxiously / Until the glare dies down and they relax once more. / It is night in Vietnam • This weekend is our reunion of the men of the 2/47 Infantry / I won’t be going they remind me of a war fought long ago / It is not memories that I seek but freedom for my sick and weary soul. • While protestors heaped ridicule upon us / And newspapers treated us with scorn / We did what had to be done / For the nation to which we were born More from Deserts and Oases: A Veteran's Poetry, by by Jackson H. Day: • How can I tell her / about the screaming of the rockets / about the shaking of the ground close by / about the terror in the bunkers / asking if the time had really come; •I feel such anger. / I rage at all who do not know, / who have not heard, / who do not share / the burden of your pain, / the burden of our shame. • Infantry commander, eyes moist / against all resistance a tear / conquers stubbled cheek. More: But I left my legs in a foreign graveyard / and I leave them now as a memorial to John Wayne./ He is the only American who would have saluted me / as I was rolled unceremoniously down that ramp. More from Poetry of the Vietnam War by Curt Bennett: • In helpless, grim fascination, we watched him go / Plunging down through the quiet morning sun. / At the last moment, he spread his arms out wide, / Like Jesus on a cross, he swan dived and seemed to float, / For a brief moment skimming the clouds • The men lay still / In the rich, red mud / In awkward configurations. / It was difficult to tell / Which one belonged? / To which nation? / Their stiff arms / Seemed to stretch out / Reaching for each other. / It was almost, as if / Universal brotherhood / Had at last…been realized.

"There's three times they tried flying me out, and all three times I died on a helicopter."

kirkaracha — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:14:06 -0800

"Everyone I've talked to knows the exact date when they've been hit."
"Yeah. It's burned into your memory."
James Gandolfini interviews 10 wounded Iraq war veterans in Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq [review]. The documentary is viewable online. "Alive Day" is what wounded soldiers call the day they didn't die. Bryan Anderson, Crystal Davis, Dawn Halfaker, Dexter Pitts, Eddie Ryan, Jay Wilkerson, Jake Schick, John Jones, Jonathan Bartlett, and Michael Jernigan tell their own stories. (The profiles have before-and-after photos.)

Iraq Vets Bear Witness

homunculus — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:20:28 -0800

The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness. "Investigating the impact of the war on Iraqi civilians, Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian reveal disturbing patterns of behavior by US troops in Iraq--brutal acts that often go unreported and almost always go unpunished." [Via No Quarter.]

Iraq Veterans Memorial

homunculus — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:55:25 -0800

The Iraq Veterans Memorial is "an online war memorial that honors the members of the U.S. armed forces who have lost their lives serving in the Iraq War. The Memorial is a collection of video memories from family, friends, military colleagues, and co-workers of those that have fallen." A project of the Brave New Foundation. [Via Bushflash.]

Veterans' Health Care

homunculus — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 12:23:24 -0800

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility. The Iraq war has transformed Walter Reed into "a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients." Meanwhile, despite predictions that the cost of medical care for veterans will skyrocket, the Bush administration apparently plans to cut funding for veterans' health care. Tired of waiting for the government, more people are taking the initiative in developing alternative facilities to help veterans.

A film on homeless veterans

riley370 — Sun, 21 May 2006 10:29:08 -0800

When I Came Home: Iraq War veteran Herold Noel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives out of his car in Brooklyn. Using Noel's story as a fulcrum, this doc examines the wider issue of homeless U.S. military veterans-from Vietnam to Iraq-who have to fight tooth-and-nail to receive the benefits promised to them by their government.

ptsd

augustweed — Thu, 11 May 2006 19:21:33 -0800

Only 2,029 out of 9,145 veterans with post traumatic stress disorder resulting from combat have been referred to mental health for evaluation/treatment. I say give them the same treatment the IDF gets.

When you go to the wall, / You can feel all the heat of that cool decade

orthogonality — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 23:56:20 -0800

"Next, have those who lost legs crawl forward and neatly/ stack them. Then bowl the skull of your best killed buddy/ down the aisle / Finally, have the blind push the quadruplegics forward / (they will have knives in their teeth to give to the legislators / to use on themselves). We leave."

Or: "Today you reached retirement/ with a disturbed and primal conscience / .... / Drunk and stoned, down in your worst / moment, you subpoenaed yourself / into believing the mission / was more important than the man."

Or: "Terrified, by the death grins. / Afraid, I'll be one of the dead. / Wondering, why did I ever think, / it wouldn't be as bad as they said?"

Soldiers' stories told in the veterans' poetry, from the archives of the Viet Nam Generation Journal.

Loss and helplessness

EarBucket — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:09:08 -0800

I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator’s wings.

Ask Your VA Doctor About Sucrosa

digaman — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 10:41:22 -0800

Are you a Gulf War veteran still suffering from mysterious symptoms or post-combat trauma? The Veteran's Administration has just the prescription for you: "Obecalp," otherwise known as placebo. (p.s. -- They'd better start working on an Extra-Strength version for Iraq War vets.)

Band Of Brothers

If I Had An Anus — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 06:44:38 -0800

Band of Brothers is an organization of Democratic veterans running for U.S. Congress. Maybe you'll hear about their DC rally today on the news (but don't hold your breath). Currently, vets in the Senate are about evenly split among the GOP and Dems, but Republican vets are the majority in the House. This is likely to change if the Democrats take control of Congress in this year's elections, in which the Iraq War will be a primary issue. Has a White House full of chickenhawks destroyed the GOP claim as the military party?

Ron Kovic on returning vets

Kirth Gerson — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 06:58:40 -0800

Ron Kovic writes about returning wounded vets There are things here you can never forget, images and sounds and smells that you will never see on TV or read about in the newspapers.

Marine's Final Salute to fallen comrades

RonZ — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 07:49:29 -0800

Marine's Final Salute to fallen comrades Very emotional piece by the Rocky Mountain News where they shadow'ed a Marine that is responsible for notifying next-of-kin. Seeing as today is Veteran's Day, how 'bout we salute our men and women in uniform ... and leave the political discussions for other forums.

WWI survivor stories

matteo — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 10:31:09 -0800

On my 19th birthday in 1917, we were in the trenches at Passchendaele... Haig put a three-day barrage on the Germans, and thought, "Well, there can't be much left of them." I think it was the Yorkshires and Lancashires that went over. I watched them as they came out of their dugouts and the German machine guns just mowed them down. I doubt whether any of them reached the front line.
Harry Patch, Private, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Born June 17 1898.
Of the millions who fought in WWI, only a handful are still alive today -- and all are now well over 100 years old. With the horror of the trenches about to slip from living memory, Max Arthur has tracked down and interviewed these last survivors of the 'carnage incomparable'.