"THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WARS"

Healing - An elusive element for many veterans for so many reasons. For the physical injuries. For things they've seen. For things they've done. For things they will never get out of their heads. My brother-in-law, a veteran of the Vietnam War, was with us on Easter Sunday, and we all had a spirited discussion about veterans and healing.

The next day a friend sent me the latest issue of the GI Special, and among all the great material was this powerful poem about healing (and more) by Mike Hastie, a Vietnam Veteran.

A Few Bad Apples

An atrocity always begins by following orders.
The order in itself is an authority decision.
Which means those who carry out the atrocity,
are not held responsible.
But, if the atrocity is found out,
the authority orders were never given.
That gives birth to a "few bad apples."
It's a fail-safe system.
It always works, because the military always
convinces the public of Geneva Convention Rules.
In this case, a "few bad apples," committed murder.
Things like this happen in war.
But, it is incomprehensible that this would ever be
anything but a very, very, rare occasion.
When veterans die,
they carry a lot of secrets to the next world,
because it is only there that they can be healed.
They can't be healed by a public who thinks it is
only done by a "few bad apples."
An apple a day keeps the truth away.
Thank God there is another world where veterans
can make peace with their suffering.

Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
April 12, 2009
(Published in GI Special, April 12, 2009)

GI Special, a publication of the Military Project, is a news bulletin for service members. The Military Project reaches out to anti-war military personnel. Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email to contact@militaryproject.org. Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication.

As it says in the GI Special:

POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED. THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WARS.

Support the troops; send them GI Special!

Peace,

Leonard