wo evenings ago the Jackson clan, all who are here on the West Coast, assembled at the house for food, merriment and the task of putting the lights and decorations on the Christmas tree. The food was good and the conversation robust and on-going, until it was time for them to go home. I was left with the washing up and a bare Christmas tree; we forgot to do the tree.
Our sons Alan and Devon reassembled last night and rectified that and now all is ready for the holidays.
It's a very special tree from a very special place benefiting a most special cause. Each year Alana and I go to a veteran's lot on Sepulveda Blvd., just south of Wilshire in West Los Angeles, to select our conifer. Each year the same cast of characters is working there with one or two fresh faces added.
Izzy is the oldest. He has been in a veteran's home since World War II, when he served his country with distinction and was twice on ships torpedoed and sunk by U-boats. Last year's addition was a young pilot who had been shot down in the first Gulf War. He was taken prisoner and badly, very badly, tortured. He isn't at the lot this season - he has been hospitalized, again, for recurring problems and memories. One of the veterans, a real leader of men, who got his experience in Vietnam, confided in me that his son returned from his first tour of duty in the current Iraq war, gung ho and proud. Then, they sent him back. This he had not expected or anticipated. Dad told me that he is now an alcoholic.
Sadly, this war, which has already rotated over a million young men and women is taking a heavy toll, beyond the weekly tally of killed and wounded; thus far some 1,300 dead and over 10,000 wounded.
This morning, in the news, there was a report of a man who shot himself in the leg, in order to get out of having to return to Iraq. There is a rapidly growing group suffering from various forms of post traumatic stress disorder. Already, according to military sources, approximately one in every six troops requires psychological therapy to help them live with their memories and experiences. The word I've received from veterans is that the more realistic figure is one in three needing support and therapy.
This morning I conducted an interview with a man named Shad Meshad who is the founder and president of The National Veteran's Foundation. I began speaking with him back in the days of the Vietnam war and I thought I'd take the same approach in the current conversation; posing many of the self-same questions. The answers were depressingly similar.
I asked if it was difficult for men and women to admit to needing psychological help.The answer, "absolutely." I stated that we didn't appear to have the same number of drug related problems from Iraq and Afghanistan that we'd seen as a result of the Vietnam experience. He challenged that and pointed out that the problems were there and growing.
In the Vietnam war the armed forces were almost blamed for the nation's foreign policy and our troops were not welcomed home as heroes. I didn't think that would be the case in this second Gulf war. Shad thought that would be the case as the war drags on.
I remember so many of our conversations of 30-35 years ago that spoke of families destroyed, through spousal infidelity at home. According to Meshak that was already happening again.
In the main it is the nightmarish reminders of what these young people have seen and endured that has changed so many of the "kids" who were sent abroad, who had to face death and become killers. Can you imagine being in Baghdad or Faluja or anywhere in that war-torn country, trying to tell Iraqi friend, from Iraqi foe.
If you have been in a combat situation you know well that the flight-or-fight reflex floods the body with adrenaline, permitting impressive feats of endurance, but when you have been at it for weeks and months at a time, without let-up, it must be horrendously tough trying to adjust to a peaceful setting.
One of my guests in a few days from now is scheduled to be the wife of the Secretary of Defense, Mrs.Donald Rumsfeld. Her office called us and I gather the reason for the conversation is to seek more support for our troops. Two thoughts come to mind and I shall surely express them to her, if she doesn't cancel the date.
Mrs.Rumsfeld, despite politics and the administration's successful attempt to paint critics of the war as being anti or un-American, I have never met a person who didn't support our troops. It's the war itself of which many of us are critical.
The question I would love to hear her respond to is, "Mrs Rumsfeld, does the Secretary of Defense sleep well?"