I have no idea what the provocation was, but I'll check it out.  Turns out it matters a lot in terms of lives of our troops and the hideous life altering injuries the returning suffer.  I wonder if they, like the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who survived, envy the dead.  Many, those whose overcoming are put on view by the media seem to harbor a relentless drive to conquer the injury and some do, through the use of supertechnological prosthetics that are sometimes computer controlled and assisted.  Others, through sheer grit and determination make do with less sophicated tools, but are able to put on the face of a pride and satisfaction that must be admired, though some are skeptical of what support systems will be available and for how long and at whose cost.  The "some" to whom I refer are not the veterans themselves but those whose anxiety about the future for the lucky who are advertised receiving the aid, is intensified for those who somehow, randomly are not chosen.  The atrocity of underpaid fighters returning to a life of poverty and misery because of some legislative oversight or bureaucratic bungle, never get the latest available right stuff to return them to a pain-free productive life and also form a long line waiting for their stories to be told.  They at least will deserve that.  To the extent possible, this log will record what we can find.  One of the portals we can open is this log itself, and an invitation will be extended and the key to a short version of their stories will be granted at some future time when the deployments wind down and the process of withdrawal and return begins with a regularity that lends the effort efficacy and credibility.

May 23, 2011