6.8.14: Our Soldiers - Recognized and Unrecognized (Reprinted & Updated from 5.26.13)

Since Meet The Press has gone dark this week, we thought we'd write a little note on the Memorial Day holiday to remind people that this is one of our most solemn and should be recognized as such.  In the most general of terms, we honor those soldiers that have given their lives in defense of this country.  For specific indicators we've listed the number of deaths for all of the United States' major wars since its founding.

American Revolutionary War:  25,000
War of 1812:  15,000
Mexican-American War:  13,283
U.S. Civil War:  625,000
Spanish-American War:  2,446
Philippine-American War:  4,196
World War I:  116,516
World War II:  405,399
Korean War:  36,516          
Vietnam War:  58,209
The Gulf War:  294
Afghanistan:  2,031
Iraq War:  4,487

Total: 1,308,377

While keeping those numbers in mind (and those are just the major conflicts), we'd like to focus on the last two wars, one of which as we all know is still going on, and the soldier fatalities that are not being honored, the deaths unrecognized.  We conducted a quick search and came across an article on Forbes.com that reported on a study that said 22 Iraq-Afghanistan veterans commit suicide every day in this country.  Over the course of one year, that is 8,030 soldiers, more than who have died overseas.

President Obama stated this week that the United States has to take itself off of a perpetual war footing, and we would agree as it ultimately dishonors the memories of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  For our most recent veterans, this tragic epidemic that for them even though they are not on military footing, the war is perpetual. 

We as a country need to recognize this unspeakably horrible circumstance and put what ever resources we have to work to stop this epidemic from continuing so that we can honor more of our Iraq-Afghan vets' service, instead of their memories.


June 2014 Update
Of the 2.5 million men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 700,000 have been determined to be disabled.  Whether physically or mentally, it some way 28 percent of our veterans have been crippled by our nation's longest period of combat - more than one in four.

There should be no Congressional squabbling about increasing the budget for veteran's affairs; it is the cost and the moral duty that the United States has to bear.

Think about this: Since we wrote this column last year, there's no evidence that suicide rate for veterans has changed - still 22 a day.  That's another 8,030 lives taken by these wars.  As tragically sad as that is, we also have to realize that the United States chose this legacy.

Let that sink in for a minute.