War's Casualties Include the Children of Reservists

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-na-fargo27dec27,1,463639.story?coll=la-home-headlines

<snip>

The separation of war has fallen hard on the children of American soldiers, and perhaps none so much as the families of those in the reserves. This is the largest call-up of reserve forces since the Korean War, and unlike their active-duty counterparts, thousands of so-called citizen soldiers have left behind children caught between two worlds. Neither military nor civilian, they live outside the vast support network available at virtually every base and fort. Yet they represent an almost invisible minority in a public school system only recently aware that they exist.

Here in North Dakota, nearly half of the Army National Guard has been activated — one of the highest per capita mobilization rates in the nation. Commitment to national service is known to run three generations deep. The rugged Plains individualism, which is legendary here, seems to be pulling families through. But virtually no one denies that the children are showing scars, some probably fleeting but others potentially indelible.

In and around Fargo, where the 142nd is based, teachers report falling grades and rising absenteeism. Some students have come to school in tears, others have turned to antidepressants to stop their nightmares ("I would have this vision of my dad running toward me, and he would just get shot and disappear.... "). One high school junior, refused permission to visit his father and brother in Colorado before they left for Baghdad, dropped out of school and began taking methamphetamines. Another 13-year-old boy regressed to the age of 7 in an emotional breakdown so severe that his father came home.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Amazing

Support in bases and forts is not that great, but it is better than what these people are getting

[celestia671]

2. I feel so badly for those kids!

They need their father/mother home with them, esp during the holidays!

I don't see how Bush can look at himself in the mirror every day knowing the pain he is causing so many families!

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. he has no consience