Da Goddess

The Cost of Freedom

From one of several friends currently in Baghdad:

The Cost of Freedom is Visible Here

Those are the words inscribed in the entry way of a veterans administration hospital I once visited in my youth. The words burned themselves indelibly into my soul and even 20 years later I can see them as clearly as the day I first laid eyes upon them.

Lying on my rack sweating profusely in the midday heat, my thoughts drifted back to those powerful words. Words to shock the sensibilities of the folks back home and remind them that the rights they enjoy were bought at an expensive price. A highly visible price if you ever take the time to visit your local veterans administration hospital.

As the sweat dripped into my eyes, the stinging sensation almost brought me back into reality from my altered state of mind. Almost, but not quite, as I pondered the invisible costs of freedom. The costs that only those paying the price would know about. Not the 25 million dollar per month cost reduction the Pentagon seeks by cutting our combat pay and family separation pay. The hidden costs buried deep within the accounts payable spreadsheets the GAO will never publish.

The marriages shattered by constant deployments and uncertainties. The missed birthdays that will never be regained. The babies born to widowed mothers. The babies that will be a year old before they feel the touch of their fathers hand, perhaps for only six or eight months before he is gone again to another distant land. Let's not forget the mothers that left their children in the care of family members to follow the beat of the marching drum. The crying children on lonely nights, afraid of the dark and wanting daddy to dispel the demons that live under their beds. The AB+ twin brother that may not have the blood or bone marrow he needs because his double won't be able to give blood for months or even years after this deployment. The missed recitals, first day of school, first steps, first words, first firsts.

This is the cost of freedom that every young bulletproof soldier on patrol pays. Don't worry about the cost in blood, or at least never admit it to anyone. Unspoken fears of dying or mutilation are left unsaid, never call the beast for it may come. Freedom is never free, but someone has to foot the bill...

As the heat blurred my vision and lulled me back to sleep I asked myself, "Then why the hell do I do this? Why?" My inner child giggled with glee and answered "For the children, silly man!" as my eyelids drooped shut and darkness swallowed my soul.

\x{00A9} 2003, C.D. US Army

Posted by DaGoddess at August 19, 2003 07:00 PM