A hero , a victim, or both?

I steer clear of some subjects on this blog. The war in Iraq being one of the subjects I have addressed very little, if at all. I haven't neglected it for lack of an opinion, anyone paying attention knows I have an opinion on everything, and am an authority on little. That said, the story of Joseph Dwyer , the Army medic in the picture above begs for attention and my two cents. Here is a guy who was in the spotlight because of a photo. Taken in March of 2003, Dwyer is seen cradling a small child in his arms. It elicits both a pride in being American and a sense of awe in the young men and women who put their lives on the line for......... and that is where I begin to struggle. The reason , the what for , if you will.

Dwyer came home from Iraq, shunned the spotlight and sank in to a world of drug addiction and mental health issues. He died from inhaling aerosol. He made it out of a hostile country alive, but not in one piece, only to die from huffing household products. Troubled or experimenting teens inhale aerosol, 31 year old medical professionals do not. Thirty one year old medical professionals know that shit will kill you. Sadly it seems Dwyer cared little if he lived or died. A single snapshot, a second frozen in time, along with a troubled post military personal life which ended tragically, is the legacy Dwyer leaves behind, along with a wife and child.

I worked with a kid at my previous job in a lumber yard. He went to Iraq, served two tours, irrecovably changed when I last saw him. He was a good kid, albeit a little wild. When I last saw him he had filled out from the lanky teenager I'd known, and he seemed a little off, something just wasn't right with him. He compared being in Iraq to a video game, he laughed when he said it, but he wasn't smiling. I left it there, Ive got my own interpretation of what he meant, but I wont put my words in his mouth. My point is , he was just a kid, 19, and not equipped mentally for whatever it was he went through over there.

I served in the Coast Guard, got in some trouble, was given the option of military or prison, as was the custom back then. I chose carefully, took the path of least likelihood of danger, I was pretty fuckin smart, even back then. The point is I never equated dieing for some obscure and ambiguous cause in a foreign land as patriotism. I have never had the blind faith and trust in the talking heads and suits in Washington that is required to put your life on the line without question or hesitation. In the case of Iraq, we invaded for one reason, and are staying for another, after the initial reason proved unfounded. These young men come home broken and the government offers up substandard care through the V.A. How else do you explain the alarming suicide rates, substance abuse problems, marital problems , financial issues and guys like Joseph Dwyer.

I wont argue the right or wrong of the Iraq war, Ill leave that to people who lived it and the people who started it in the first place. At the same time I cant help but question a government that sends young men, boys in many cases, onto foreign soil under the guise of patriotic duty, only to neglect them when they return. Pawns in a chess game come to mind, a deadly chess game. How else do you explain tragedies like Joseph Dwyer? And who will explain it to his child?