2000

Over the weekend, in the midst of my canvassing for the Obama campaign in Virginia, a distressing statistic came over the radio. Somewhere last weekend, we suffered our 2000th soldier death in the Afghanistan war. A war that has been languishing for over ten years now. I imagine that most people heard that number, and let it pass by, like all the the information chatter that we are bombarded by each day.  It gave me pause, and it made me remember that we are still at war.

For some reason, the war in Afghanistan has receded to a state of "nothingness" in the consciousness of the nation. I am old enough to remember the nightly updates on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, regarding all of our casualties in Vietnam. The war was right in front of us every night on television. We couldn't escape it. I think that because of that type of exposure, protests were born, and the actual morality of war was debated.  The protests now are against the one percent! (quite a difference)  Although 2000 lost souls pales compared to the more than 50,000 we lost in Vietnam, we are still at war.  Attention should be paid to it.

Both campaigns have been  unusually silent when it comes to the troops on the frontline. The President did, to his credit, give recognition to the troops during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, but Mitt Romney failed to recognize the war during his acceptance speech. His excuse was that he had talked about the war during a VFW meeting on the day before.(weak)

As a retired soldier, and since I personally know people who are currently getting deployed and serving in the war zone, I am concerned that Afghanistan will be forgotten.  A war that is not due to end for a couple of years. In that time it will certainly get more dangerous, as we have less troops in the field.The war seems to be buried in the onslaught of information that we are exposed to each day. From "Angry Birds" to "Honey Boo-Boo", it is very easy to insulate ourselves from the realities of war, and the really "messed up"world that exists around us.

Hopefully, the war will be discussed during the upcoming debates. What will the future President do to help our troops and their families?  How will the war come to an end...without increasing casualties? How can we make America pay attention? Keep in mind that all of the troops on the front line, all of the folks who spend time on patrol, all of the guys who are caught in firefights, all of the servicepeople who still believe in America.....are all volunteers.