My middle child graduated from high school in 2001. He had signed up with the Marines prior to 9-11, but he kept his promise to our country and went to boot camp at MCRD - San Diego that October. His buddy bailed. When it looked like we were headed to war, I contacted my congressman at the time, Adam Smith of Washington State. He was in session, but he returned my call later that night. Throughout our conversation, I kept repeating that Congress had better be right about the weapons of mass destruction, as you never should send our troops to war based on a lie. My father at the time was against going to war until Colin Powell spoke to the country. We gave Bush and Powell the benefit of the doubt. My father spent 31 years in the Marine Corps. He was a fighter pilot in the South Pacific in WWII and served in both Korea and Vietnam. He never forgave LBJ or McNamara for the lies about the Gulf of Tonkin fiasco. My son crossed over the first day of the Iraq war. He had his first shower in Saddam Hussein's palace in Tikrit. He had several close calls. He returned back to Camp Pendleton after 9 months. Four months later he was sent back to Iraq. My father said he did not have enough time to decompress. This time he was sent to Ramadi (same time as Fallujah) to help out Army Special Forces, even though he was a Marine. My son was in communications. They took mortars almost every day. His gunnery sergeant was blown up. The military kept extending his deployment. Since he was in communications, he was able to call us quite often, always in the middle of the night. He was falling apart and started to talk about suicide. By some miracle, a Navy captain from Camp Pendleton realized he was in crisis and he was given help with depression and then eventually returned to CA. It took him 10 years to recover. He did not come out of his room for 2 years except to eat. His legs atrophied. He quit driving because he had panic attacks. It was a long road back. The VA here in Portland and Vancouver, WA really cared. The treatment in Seattle/Tacoma area was a nightmare. There were 1000 soldiers to each psychiatrist. I had to fight for him and set up a meeting with the hospital ombudsman at American Lake in the Tacoma area. She found him a new psychiatrist, but it was my husband taking a new job in the Portland area with access to better treatment that saved his life, as well as getting him a corgi and daily walks to a little lake in our neighborhood to watch the baby geese grow up and me driving his 5 days a week to therapy in Portland and Vancouver.
Now we have a grandson that lives with us. He is 16. We know that he needs discipline, but over my dead body, he will not join the military. My oldest grandson is autistic, so he is safe. My other grandsons are too young, the youngest two being 23 months and 7 months (children of my Marine son, along with a 6-year-old girl). With all the wars Trump is getting us into, I expect the draft will happen. Eli is safe for the next year and a half. I just want to see all the Magat's offer up their kids.
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