A Soldier's Story: The Price of A Soldier
Joining the military was both the best and worst thing I have ever done with my life.
Like many young men I joined the United States Army mostly to get a college education.
I also joined the army to make a difference, too.
I signed up for only 4 years, but served 5 because of stop loss,
which means you are not leaving the service.
I finished my degree in biology and left the service only to rejoin
because of a divorce I was going through.
I stayed for 15 more years.
In those 15 years I did seven campaigns, a.k.a. wars and the things I seen and experienced were horrible and to this day the memories still haunt me.
I seen a lot of what a human being should never see nor experience.
I suffer from Combat PTSD and still go for treatment to this day.
Also, I am permanently disabled due to injuries from combat as well as
the psychological effects of combat ptsd.
I guess some things never leave you...
I just wanted to mention also for any young adults graduating High School that there ARE alternatives to joining the military for a college education. The choice is up to you.
There are grants and student loans.
There are many other opportunities for High School graduates
listed on the Veterans for Peace website:
I even ended up homeless for about three years until I finally got my disability retirement. Believe it or not, 80 percent of the homeless here in the United States are veterans.
Imagine fighting for your country overseas and when you come back, you have nothing to come back to if you are physically and/or mentally impaired with no benefits and you end up homeless.
What kept me going was a mantra I have which is "never give up" as well as my mother's love and the thought of disappointing her if I didn't survive.
My mother taught me to always love and I never forgot that.
Despite my traumatic experiences it was my mother's teaching that kept my heart open and kept me alive.
My wife Sue and I wrote a song called "By A Thread" which was about my mother's teaching of keeping your heart open and the strength of her love which was a lifeline to me.
I served in Korea, then Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Haiti, Somalia and Bosnia.
I am proud of my service to the United States, however I didn't agree with why we went to war, especially the Iraq Campaign. We went there for oil, NOT freedom.
I didn't want to fight for oil, I wanted to help liberate people.
The war machine is all about making money for corporations and the wealthy elite.
I wanted to become a Conscientious Objector, meaning someone that doesn't agree with the reason for the war and wanted to go home, but was denied because I was on stop loss,
meaning I couldn't leave.
I love this country, but the politicians are crooks and are using the military to take care of their personal agendas while innocent people die.
Veteran's for peace is an organization that exposes the REAL causes and high price tag of war..
But there are some benefits also for being a veteran. Now I have medical and dental insurance for the rest of my life. I am thankful for that.
There are many pros and cons for being a combat soldier.
For me, the pros were being able to help liberate other people while serving my country as well as the medical care and many other benefits.
The cons were seeing many innocent people die and become disfigured as well as the many horrible memories from these situations.
So really, what is the price of a soldier?
High... Very high...
Huey Lewis and The News had a song "Walking On A Thin Line" which was a true story about a soldier's experiences of the Vietnam war.
Songfacts.com says :
"This song is about an American soldier who is trained as a sniper in the Vietnam War, and must face his demons when he returns home. It was written by Andre Pessis, who in 2008 told a group of students about this song as a guest speaker for Pyramind Sound. In the late '60s, Pessis paid a young Huey Lewis $20 to record a demo of "Walking on a Thin Line," which he wrote for a documentary of that name about the Vietnam War. The song wasn't used in the movie, but many years later became a hit for Lewis when he recorded it for his Sports album."
(Chorus)
Taught me how to shoot to kill A specialist with a deadly skill A skill I needed to have to be a survivor It's over now or so they say Well, sometimes, it don't work out that way 'Cause your never the same when you've been under fire
Don't you know me I'm the boy next door The one you find so easy to ignore Is that what I was fighting for?
Walking on a thin line Straight off the front line Labeled as freaks loose on the streets of the city Walking on a thin line Angry all the time Take a look at my face, see what it's doing to me
There is some good news though, the Veterans Affairs Administration has many programs to help veterans emotionally, physically and financially but you have to ask first.
A lot of veterans still don't know about all of these programs for housing and medical care.
For any veteran looking for benefits and support, click the link below
to find your local veterans' administration (VA):
Also locally here in Florida, there is a great organization called The Veteran's Alternative, a place to heal and replenish our veterans through Accelerated ResolutionTherapy (ART) a modality of healing that helps those with ptsd get rid of the recurring memories that damage the psyche.
There is also a retreat that veterans and their spouses can go on, too for free that have Yoga, ART and iRest meditation.
Click the link below for direct access to the radio show I did with Rev. Sue back in 2013 titled:
"A Soldier's story: The Price of a Soldier"
This goes more in depth about my experiences as a soldier and the war machine.
What kept me going was my mother's love and never giving up.
Never give up, keep your heart open and keep the faith,
Rev. David Marsh
