By Joseph Alan Sanchez
Defeating Cognitive Dissonance
GCN Live.com
While observing Memorial Day and reflecting upon the contradictions of war, I can’t help but mention a few things, as I prepare to set out the flag of the United States of America.
I will begin by saying that although veterans may receive special attention on this Memorial Day and again on Veteran’s Day, there is an institutional tendency to treat current soldiers and retired veterans as expendable. Thousands of horror stories are daily shoved under the proverbial rug and only by being exposed to individual situations, does one begin to become familiar with the shabby treatment soldiers and their families often receive.
One far-reaching example is legislation that makes it possible for insurance companies to deny or delay death benefits to the families of those killed in action. A soldier may think his family is going to at least be taken care of in the event of his death, but the truth is that all too often, deceitful insurance agencies are making the bottom dollar the priority and fleecing benefits away from the families of fallen veterans.
Now consider an individual example of one Jose Guerena, a young veteran of war, who was recently shot with semi-automatic machine guns repeatedly and killed by a Pima County Swat Team in Tucson, Arizona.
An honorably discharged veteran, with no criminal history, was killed by a SWAT team that came to his door apparently because he was thought to own a semi-automatic gun. Only a 38 was found at his home. Here is a recently-returned dedicated American citizen, who has fought for the Constitution, including the 2nd amendment, who has his home invaded by men in armor. And, because he was sleeping after a double shift at the mine, was unable to respond to the intruders within the standard 15 seconds, except to arm himself when his wife indicated that there were many armed men outside the house. The last thing Guerena did was do his best to protect his family and himself. Instead he was killed and the lame reason was that he had a gun.
An honest condolence card would say, “We only let you think we needed you when you were doing our bidding.” And now his widow mourns him, and other veterans are left wondering if they too will suffer a sneak attack as they attempt to return to a life of normalcy.
This leads me to a third point, and that is that too many soldiers are being returned to the front, although they are unstable and crippled by various trauma. This is why the group Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW), has recently confronted Fort Hood Lt. General Donald Campbell, Jr. who has previously ignored them, despite a request to meet with him since his first day on post.
IVAW is sponsoring Operation Recovery, an effort to call attention to traumatized troops who are being deployed into battle despite obvious warning signs. IVAW was established in 2004 at the Veterans for Peace conference in Boston. The above link and the IVAW website shed light on the vets’ plight which has been ignored, while the flag-waving and the parties go on despite shocking numbers of suicides at almost every U.S. military installation throughout the nation and the world.
Joseph Alan Sanchez is a journalist and activist who resides in Southeastern Colorado. He recently founded “Defeating Cognitive Dissonance”, an effort to help truth seekers see through the disinformation and lies that permeate mainstream news.