Newsweek: Democratic Convention Issue

I read an article in Newsweek titled “The Tragic Bonds of War.” This article is written by Jason Cohen and appearing on page 14 of the National Democratic Convention Issue. A soldier tells a story from the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq where, “We see death every day.” He says that when someone dies, he or she not only leaves the earth, but takes a piece of the--still living--ER staff. “We are not supposed to think, to dwell on who is in front of us—we think instead about what is in front of us: a collapsed lung, an amputation, an evisceration.” He says that his patients become a part of him. “As a fellow soldier, I share a special connection with my patients. When one dies, I lose a piece of myself.” One night, a soldier was flown in for critical attention and immediate care. Ann, an ER nurse, realized that this soldier was not like the others—they attended college together. She tried her best to save her fallen friend, giving everything but her own life. Fallen soldiers are more: fathers, daughters, classmates, lieutenants & friends. At the Support Hospital in Iraq, they are called Angels—as they are zipped into body bags and flown away. I have not heard a story with such sentiment since the beginning of this war in Iraq. I either blind sight them or haven’t been reading Newsweek. I took a Vietnam course as an elective in high school, my teacher being a war veteran, & know how much of the war and death tolls were accounted for & shared with the American people. What’s up with that? These are not statistics to hide.