A Veterans Day experience
EDITOR’S NOTE: Columnist John Ostwald submitted daily columns for the two weeks prior to Veterans Day. The columns covered a variety of armed forces issues. The information in the columns came from interviews with veterans and family members, research and John’s perspective as an educator and veteran.
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During the past few months I worked on the fourteen columns that were in two local newspapers, on a daily basis, the two weeks before Veterans Day. They can be acquired online at saratogian.com or troyrecord.com. Just put my name in the search box.
In order to develop the columns I obtained information from a variety of sources. I watched military movies like the new one, “Thank You For Your Service” and also many that I have seen before like “Restrepo,” “Platoon,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “Thin Red Line,” “The Young Lions,” “Black Hawk Down” and many others. I read a few books and also listened to books on tape on trips to New York City. I went online frequently and looked up a variety of topics. It was interesting to have factual information supported and some of my personal beliefs debunked.
Most of the information contained in the columns came from interviews. I spoke to male and female veterans from all branches of the armed forces. I interviewed officers and enlisted and service members in their twenties and into the nineties. I also interviewed family members and civilian supporters.
I learned about things that I never even considered as part of the military experience like the use of translators in Germany when the American Army was stationed there a few years after WW II. I was told by an Army vet that President Kennedy wanted Americans to develop a healthy relationship with the German people. The translators helped facilitate the development of unions and settle disputes. Most often they were American soldiers.
After I wrote my Military Sexual Trauma column, I got an email that was both provocative and tragic from a female veteran. Here is an excerpt. “Hi, I wanted to thank you for your columns about veterans. Namely, the military sexual trauma one. I’m a veteran and this happened to me, and, well, it altered many things in my life that I couldn’t possibly see all of the implications of at the time and I had no way to protect myself in many ways. At the time, I had no idea that my whistle blowing about it would ruin my career, my inability to get higher rank, ultimately force me out of the service, and ruin parts of my psyche, which to this day, still impact my ability to just relax and feel whole.”
One evening, after watching veterans tell their traumatic stories, that were accompanied by Shakespearean verse, I realized again the wide variety of tools that can be used for emotional healing – mediation, medication, psychotherapy, equine therapy, journaling, reiki, yoga, prayer etc. Whatever works!
From some veterans I learned that their hardest battles were with themselves. They often talked about the “battle with the bottle” that cursed them and their family for decades. It was terrific hearing how they quit this and other dysfunctional addictions.
I read a book about WWII that stated that almost 15,000 airmen were killed in stateside training accidents in WWII. I realized that during the war many young men or “kids” were thrown into aircraft with very little training, but I had no idea that there were that many fatalities. According to USA Today “The deaths of 16 Marines in a cargo plane crash in Mississippi underscores the hazards of military training. Each of the services conduct training missions that simulate combat conditions, including the use of live ammunition, night training and low-altitude flying. Each of them has accidents, though not always as tragic as the crash in Mississippi. Among the recent deadly accidents outside war zones: Last June, nine soldiers drown at Fort Hood, Texas, when flood waters swallowed their truck on a training mission. Last January, 12 Marines perished when their helicopters collided off the cost of Hawaii. In June, seven sailors died on a routine mission when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a cargo ship off coast of Japan.
I learned so much more that I don’t have room for this column. Finally, I want to thank all those who spoke with me about their experiences, passion and sacrifice.
John R. Ostwald is a professor emeritus from Hudson Valley Community College, a newspaper columnist, Vietnam-era veteran and author whose work has been presented on TV, radio and at national conferences.