Foxhole Podcast: For the Veterans

So if you refer to my Film Blog, you’ll see that we’ve started a new project for Foxhole Theater Company, a podcast where we interview veterans about their lives. So this post is dedicated to the veterans. I mostly express how I feel about this subject through our plays and art; but every now and then I speak on it. So as I said, I love writing about war and soldiers. I always did, even before I met Matthew. There was something about it that called to me; my first love was the Civil War (however wrong that sounds; it was the first war that fascinated me.) Shortly afterward was obsessive research about World War 2, because I have family history connected to it, and I watched a lot of old movies with Dana Andrews playing various soldiers etc. Anyway, I had this connection for a long time, without ever having actually hung out with a veteran for a long time (besides my godfather Mike who never talked about it.) Then I met Matthew, and the floodgates opened. I heard things that anyone else would hate hearing, war stories that were so graphic and horrific they gave me nightmares. But I had to know more. It is by far the most interesting material I’ve ever had to work with; the stakes are the highest, the group is super unrepresented…the more I got to know these people, the more I found out…the ignorance of this country, the shunning of the vets (perhaps because they are a reminder of death, and the cruelty of humanity, and things that people would rather just ignore), the suicides of the Middle Eastern war veterans…and it’s insane. There are so many pre-conceived notions about veterans. Some people think they are 100% heroes, in a class all by themselves. Some people think they are murderers and baby killers. Some people think they are unstable and violent and should be avoided. I can only speak from my personal experience, but I don’t think they are any of these things. They are just people. It sounds cliched and boring, but it’s true. Some have seen horrible things, some have had to do horrible things. Yes, there are the veterans who go and shoot up a bar, but they are few and far between. Much of the violence they commit stateside is directed towards themselves. Quiet suicides, done in their rooms, or by a small river, or sometimes lying down on a highway. All are actual stories I’ve heard. And you know what sucks? People don’t really care. They don’t think it concerns them. I didn’t send them there. I didn’t make them join up. i didn’t shoot at them. I didn’t make them kill themselves. I’ve got my own problems. And yet…aren’t we somewhat complicit in what happens to them, in a way? When we were attacked almost 20 years ago, we wanted this war in the Middle East, in large part. Well someone has to fight it, right? We vote in politicians who make the wars, don’t we? I say again, aren’t we somewhat complicit? It’s an uncomfortable thought, for sure. But I think it’s time to take responsibility for the decisions OUR country makes. It’s OUR country, after all. And someone needs to take care of these people when they get home. The military has problems, yes. There are horrible people in the military, yes. Just like any other job. Yes, these people joined, they weren’t drafted. But just because they’re a minority by choice, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about them. What is happening to that community is an outrage, in my opinion. In Rome, Greece, any of the great societies that are looked up to as the pinnacle of culture, they all treated their soldiers with the utmost respect when they came home. They knew that they had cheated death. That they deserved to have easy lives if they made it home. Why can’t we do the same? Pictured in the thumbnail is Matthew with a buddy when he was in Afghanistan. Below is a photo of him and some buddies at a wedding this year.