At What Cost? A Veteran Reflects on Veterans Day

By Matt Southworth on 11/11/2011 @ 01:00 PM

Tags: Iraq, War Is Not the Answer, Middle East, Afghanistan, Veterans

For me, Veterans Day is a solemn day meant for reflection, discernment and understanding. As I reflect on my time in the military and think of all those touched by violent conflict around the world—some I know, many that I do not—I cannot help but question the presence of military violence in our world and wonder, ‘at what cost?’ Those who experience war firsthand pay the costs long after the last bullet is fired. Taken in concert with the operational costs of the wars, long-term cost estimates for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan range from $4 to $6 trillion dollars—all of which will be tacked on to our national debt. And no dollar figure can ever convey the human cost of war.

According to Veterans for Common Sense, the Veterans Administration (VA) says over 440,000 Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) veterans filed claims since 2001. With over 2 million OIF and OEF veterans and nearly 1.2 million now eligible for VA benefits, we can expect these numbers to grow. One underlying and very costly issue with these claims is that many of the injuries are difficult, if not impossible, to treat. The signature injuries of these wars—amputations, post traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) account for a large number (between 25-50%) of VA claims.

In 2010 alone some 139,000 OIF and OEF vets sought VA mental health care services for the first time—four times as many as in 2006. Overall 244,000 OIF and OEF veterans are currently being treated for mental health issues by the VA. A recent RAND Corporation—a Pentagon funded think tank—study estimates that of OIF and OEF veterans, 320,000 have some form of TBI and 300,000 have PTS. The bottom line is that these injuries will be with the people who have sustained them long after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to a close. It also begs the question: how do 25 million Iraqis and 29 million Afghans overcome the collective trauma of years of war?

These injuries have peripheral effects as well. First, some veterans choose to self-medicate rather than admit they have a problem. This kind of behavior leads to family issues, difficulty getting or holding a job and a number of other problems. It’s one of the reasons that veterans are twice as likely as other Americans to become chronically homeless. According to the VA, on any given night, 107,000 veterans are homeless. The suicide epidemic—in 2010, 468 veterans died by suicide and 462 died in combat—has also been rising to the collective consciousness in recent years.

While the government has made honest efforts to improve veteran care, reduce the prevalence of some of these grave issues and ensure veterans have a smooth transition to civilian life—the most recent move being Senate passage of a veterans jobs bill by a vote of 95-0—it is often hard to see “support” go beyond simple rhetoric. The most egregious case and point: mishandled remains at Arlington National Cemetery and Dover Air Force Base. The recent story about Dover—where the remains of some soldiers were cremated and then dumped into the local landfill—is absolutely infuriating to me. It is the single worst example of where rhetoric fails to meet action.

These systemic issues and individual challenges come down to the undeniable fact that we must reevaluate how we address conflict. The human and fiscal costs are simply unsustainable. Moreover, war is simply not a natural part of the human condition. As long as there is war, veterans will face the issues described above no matter how much the system is reformed. So perhaps the best way to honor veterans on this Veterans Day is to pledge to work to create fewer of them.