Enduring Freedom?

6,805 U.S. service members have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

This weekend, we welcomed my son home from a 6 month deployment in Afghanistan. Chalk it up to naivety, denial or a little bit of both, but this entire time I’d chosen to believe that he was safer than he actually was.  After hearing about the frequent Taliban attacks (one rocket hit as close as 50 feet from him) and his experience volunteering in the hospital, I now know that I was totally in the dark about what he was going through.  

We didn’t welcome my baby boy home from some routine overseas tour. We welcomed him home from war.

While it is apparent that he will have a difficult time processing everything he experienced and that my daily prayers for him will continue, I thank God he came home safe. I can’t help but think of those who were not as fortunate. I can’t help but think about and pray for SGT Bowe Bergdahl and his family.

I also can’t help but think of how many are physically unscathed but psychologically suffering. That number could easily be in the 100’s of 1000’s when you realize that we’ve pretty much been at war for over 12 years straight. What kind of an impact will those unseen scars have on our society? Are we not already feeling some that impact? 

There are still 68,000 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan. Of the 3,416 coalition deaths, 2,308 of them were Americans. Another 42 U.S. soldiers died in other countries while supporting operations in Afghanistan. There is no plan to bring them all home.