The Gift Only They Can Give

In a military where more soldiers are dying from suicide than enemy fire, what can be done?

The ethical damage of conflict may be worse than physical injuries. Once a soldier returns from some questionable battlefields, it is difficult or impossible to repair the mental trauma.

The VA has started calling this “moral injury,” but that and words like “collateral damage” are absurd. They hide the real cost of war with words like those. Only veterans can explain the ethical impact of war. No one alive can forgive them for those they killed.

But incredibly, explaining what they did 6,000 miles away in a conflict far from the public’s consciousness can help. Making the next war less likely is a new kind of battle that heals. May they choose courage and that ethical battle over suicide. May they give us what no others can.

This brief story of hope was inspired by true events.