Moral Injury 24 x 7

From Mike Hastie, a combat medic in the United States War against Vietnam:

Three weeks ago, I had a personal friend commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. She was not a veteran, nor is she someone identifiable by any of my activist friends. She did, however, suffer from severe moral injuries. Yesterday, I had a conversation with an Iraq veteran who was in Iraq in 2007. No one in his military unit were killed, but after they came home, six of his friends eventually committed suicide. The Iraq veteran I talked with attempted suicide, but eventually got help, and is doing quite well now.  Before I had the conversation with that veteran yesterday, I was working on a piece that I had titled, " Moral Injury 24 X 7."  This is that completed writing:

Moral Injury 24 X 7

"You" are walking around in circles,

morbidly depressed and withdrawn.

Nothing makes any sense anymore.

But, it never made any sense long  before

"You" ever went to war.

It was simply "your" turn to find out the

absolute truth, and finally realize why

countless veterans throughout history

wound up in suicide cemeteries.

"You" never knew about betrayal,

because those who went before

"you" were never allowed to speak.

The public just wants heroes.

They do not want to know the

veteran's mindfield.

The magnitude of "your" illness is equal

to the depth of "your" silence.

Mike Hastie

Army Medic Viet Nam

June 20, 2018