Saw a vet on the DC Metro today...looked like he just got back and not in the way he wanted to...

[YOY]

As I was getting in to the DC Metro on my way to work today I did the usual worker drone thing that many of us in this town do. Bustling into one Metro car after another transferring from one line and rushing to get into the door of another. Today was no different. Blocking one half of the door of the Red line was a character that is etched into my mind.

Camo pants and the haircut were the sign of who he was. Latino gent in a wheelchair...no legs. Looked clean and not living on the streets. He was blocking one half of the entry but that's commonplace for folks with disabilities. People understand and no one utters a disparaging word or glance as we use the other half to get on or off. It's a polite but not patronizing thing.

His appearance wasn't what is etched in my mind. That wasn't as upsetting as the way he reacted. No emotion. He stared into his lap the whole time. Out of the corner of my eye as I did my morning crossword puzzle he kept staring almost trance-like into his own lap. He didn't react to the people around him as they entered and exited the Metro car. He looked...for lack of a better word...haunted.

I got off at my stop. He continued on. I hope to Walter Reed Medical Facility which is only a few stops after mine...

His face is still in my mind. Maybe it's because he looked like my friend David (who is alive and well and struggling with medical bills for his in-laws who cannot afford medical insurance.)

Mr. Obama. We've got to stop this war. It is the source of many of our woes including economic. Despite this, the human cost cannot be overlooked. We cannot let McCain continue this and start the next war with money we don't have.

His face is still in my mind...I want to forget it and I don't want to at the same time.

[1620rock]

1. Haunted indeed, a haunting post...thanks for posting.

[medicswife]

2. Don't forget his face

Even the ones that come home with all of their limbs have had portions of their souls severed. My husband should be back from his second 15 month deployment in no more than 3 months. We talk all of the time about how we know he will have changed again, how he is more haunted now. How we'll have a lot of adjustments to make and how I'm going to have my eyes on him, watching for any signs of PTSD. That I'll be dragging his ass in to psych if I even suspect he's got a problem.

Then, I think about the ones that are going to come back to nobody. Nobody but their fellow soldiers to look out for them, to watch them for signs of mental distress. Wonder how many of them will end up killing themselves, or getting drunk to try to block it out, get in the car drunk, crash and die. :( The casualties go on even after they've come back.

Don't forget his face.

[YOY]

4. Couldn't if I wanted to.

N/T

[sabra]

3. thank you for the post - very moving...

[YOY]

5. You're welcome...I guess.

I just wanted to get it off of my chest.

[Virginia Dare]

6. Another generation of broken young men and women..

and another piece of the stinking pile of shit that is the G.W. Bush legacy.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

7. On my very long walks home on Georgia Ave., I pass by Walter Reed.

Along the way, I come across many homeless people on the street, many of whom are confined in wheelchairs or sleeping on the streets. The weather is changing and it is getting cooler. I am ashamed to be an American sometimes. There are people who volunteer. I will start next weekend especially since it's getting cooler.

[YOY]

9. From the Safeway up to Silver Spring it's like that from when I lived on Van Buren

I often think it's a little ironic that Walter Reed is much closer to Takoma Park, MD than it is McLean, VA.

For you folks not familiar with DC Takoma Park is Liberal central and McLean is the million dollar homes (folks like Derek Prince live there...)

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

19. I am proud to proclaim that I live in Takoma Park. On my long walks

home from work I see so many of these people on the streets, especially around the Mount Vernon, Howard-Shaw-Petworth areas. I am very saddened by this.

[YOY]

21. I loved that July 5th thing you guys did...

Brilliant. Some of us got it and some didn't.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. The Fall Festival last Sunday was great. That's usually when the politicians

come out. That was where I talked to Senator Cardin when he was running for office against Kwese Mfume and gave him a hard time. I asked why I should vote for him and he went down a long laundry list of policy proposals. That's when I knew that he was the guy. Van Hollen always shows up. And Cindy Sheehan came for a visit when Jamie Raskin was running for the state senate. He was a lawyer for her when she got arrested in D.C. a couple of years ago. Good people. Nice and liberal. ;)

[YOY]

28. Arlington ain't half bad either...

South Arlington that is. The farther North you go the richer folks get...there are some nicer rich folks and then you get to the houses that would sell for 150,000 elsewhere and 1 million here...

[JohnnyBoots]

14. I've been to Walter Reed's Orthopedic and Prosthesis wing. That was an

experience I will not soon forget. When you walk in it is hustling doctors helping young people and older men fit on parts to their missing limbs in front of you. Then you turn to the right and see the full, standing room only waiting room filled with broken young men and women and their parents. The parents look disillusioned and sad, like they see the future of their kids broken dreams and the kids are trying to be upbeat, but know they have a long road ahead of them.

[stillcool]

8. reminds me of this article..

Haunted
Did the soldiers of the Good War really come home psychologically unscathed by the horror and stress they experienced? Or did they simply suffer in silence?
by Mark D. Van Ells

Combat stirs up a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. Feelings of exhilaration, love, hatred, guilt, rage, helplessness, disgust, and fear race through the minds of soldiers in battle. How the human mind responds to these emotions has long perplexed military officials, medical professionals, and especially veterans and their families. Sixteen million Americans served in World War II. Of those, perhaps one million were exposed to extended periods of combat. These men often suffered deep emotional pain as a result of their battle experiences, and the effects lasted for years. Some carried the pain for the rest of their lives.

"We were all psychotic, inmates of the greatest madhouse of history,"
http://www.americainwwii.com/stories/haunted.htm

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. My step-father was a commando during WWII, and before I ever read about

post-combat psychiatric treatment (it would have been around 1968), he told me they were all sent to see a "trick-cyclist" before they were demobbed.

[bridgit]

10. Talk to this Kid Rock shithead too & Jr., right when you thought Toby Keith was the big problem...

http://www.nationalguardwarrior.com

[YOY]

11. You gotta be f***ing kidding me.

That's disgusting. Tough guy BS looking for young and full of testoserone...

[bridgit]

15. Nope, we do some work for film studios and were in several theaters last two days, that crap...

was playing on a dedicated basis (means theaters *have* to play it can't change it) over and freaking over from theater to freaking theater mostly that with a sprinkling of Mama Mia criminy if I hear either song again I'm going to scream!

[TuxedoKat]

12. How tragic.

Please send your story to the Obama campaign.

[YOY]

13. Done.

n.t

[kestrel91316]

17. War is STILL not healthy for children and other living things.

[Orsino]

22. If misery and death won't move 'em, perhaps economic collapse will? n/t

[kestrel91316]

18. War is STILL not healthy for children and other living things.

[hasssan1]

20. Why Obama doesn't talk more about IRAQ war now ?? He should talk more about it

[Lilith Velkor]

23. I still remember a guy on the Metro from a couple months ago

He was sitting caddy corner from me on those seats that face sideways, next to another soldier. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he was scanning the train every time it stopped, whether at a station or not. When I put my newspaper down, his head whipped around in my direction and I got that fabled thousand yard stare looking me dead in the eye.

Still gives me a chill, just thinking about it.

[knixphan]

25. K&R

[Forkboy]

26. ..and this is why we love YOU.

;)

[YOY]

29. Thanks mang...

You a breakan my heart... :+

[Samantha]

27. This is a surprising thread to me - I too wrote one about a passenger

I met on the DC metro. What's more I have a good friend, my best friend, named David who worked at Walter Reed for years. He is now at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

You and I must have passed each other some time on the metro, or in another life.

Here's the stranger I met:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1664790

This town has captivated me for years simply because of the diversity of its people.

Regards,

Sam

[YOY]

30. Perhaps...we do have our diversity.

It's an interesting place. Kind of expensive though if you're not in the right area.