A Soldier For The Truth Or A Right-Wing Hack?

Is Operation Truth part of a vast-Leftwing conspiracy to paint our soldiers as murdering psychopaths? After reading this piece of sophist garbage at Soldier's for Truth you might think so. You see, Operation Truth is going to Washington this week to talk with Congressional leaders about, amongst other troubling issues, the extremely high prevalence of PTSD and other mental disorders amongst our soldiers. But, this a-hole Ed Offley claims that those who discuss the mental strain of war are simply anti-troop (and by extension anti-American) conspirators, waiting for just the right moment to spit on our family and friends in the military.

With Operation Matador at full swing across northwestern Iraq this week, it's probably safe to say our Marines have not caught all of the news from home. I'm glad for that. They would not be encouraged to learn that a concerted effort is underway to portray all of them as mentally unbalanced killers.

And what evidence does Offley point to? The review of a movie dealing with the psychological trauma that many veterans face after being thrown into the war zone. Imagine that KIDS become traumatized when they watch their friends die, when they kill someone for the first time, and when they witness the carnage that is warfare.

Consider Times film critic Caryn James' encomium to a raft of new anti-war movies and TV shows that are in production this spring ("Critic's Corner," May 11, 2005). Ms. James, who counts herself as a spiritual kinswoman of Hollywood's two geopolitical experts, Michael Moore and Tim Robbins, begins with an overview of our nation's wars and the symbolic veterans as portrayed by Hollywood:

"Every war inspires its emblematic screen heroes, from the stoic World War II veterans of 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946) to the paraplegic Vietnam veteran who gains a political conscience, played by Jon Voight in 'Coming Home' (1978). Now, in a just completed film called 'Harsh Times,' Christian Bale is a veteran for our time. He plays an Army Ranger who returns from Iraq so haunted by what he has done, so psychologically scarred, that he turns to criminal acts back home."

There you have it in a nutshell: All World War II veterans were "stoic" and deserved our support. Vietnam veterans were crippled victims or psychologically unbalanced killers. So, too, the veterans of the post-9/11 era will all come home too "psychologically scarred" to function in society and will turn to violent crime.

First of all, stating that popular culture has dealt more with positive sides of WWII, and the negatives of Vietnam is simply a fact. If you don't like it Offley, then simply get into your time machine and go talk to Hollywood. Better yet- maybe you can tell us what the f-ck the righteous reasons to go to Vietnam were in the first place?

But more importantly, MUCH MORE IMPORTANT, is the fact that Offley is basically denying a fact of war that is seriously effecting our returning troops. Instead of looking at the issue Offley wants those of us who care about the mental health of our troops, and by extension the military readiness of our veterans, to shut up. Well, you know what Offley- we won't shut up. The lives of our family members, friends, and neighbors might seem like nothing more than political sport to you, but it's not that way for me.

Hey Offley- what percentage of Vietnam Vets have been homeless at some point? What percentage of them have suffered from serious mental ailments at some point? What percentage of them have been incarcerated?

You don't know, and the fact that you and your partisan hack ilk would rather ignore these issues than deal with them, means that you don't give two shits about our troops.

I support Operation Truth because they actually care about the troops. I admired Col. Hackworth for the same reason. You, however, are an affront both to truth and to our soldiers. You are no Soldier for Truth, you are a right-wing hack who cares only for partisan politics, and I hope that you don't damage OpTruth's chances of getting the very real phenomenon of PTSD and other combat related issues addressed. I really find it amazing that in the week after Hack's death, someone could write such an anti-grunt piece as this, and as you may be able to tell I can barely hold back my anger.

Well, at least Offley had one positive effect. I just doubled my contribution to Operation Truth so that they could go to Congress to talk about PTSD and other troop-related issues. Let's hope that a-holes like Offley don't hurt this vital mission, the lives and health of our troops depend in part on OpTruth's success.

To donate to OpTruth's Washington trip please click here.