Escalation: To increase, enlarge, or intensify (Warning! Contains reality)

[Solly Mack]

To increase, enlarge, or intensify:

Death
Misery
Sorrow
Destruction
Injury
Pain
Suffering
Fear














People can cavalierly dismiss the reality of war by telling themselves they fully understand the cost of war, but I've seen the injured & the maimed - up close and personal. I've been to memorial after memorial for the dead. I've seen the scared faces of departing soldiers. I've seen the faces of returning soldiers, forever changed by what they've seen and done.

I've seen the strained faces of their families and I've looked into the mirror and seen my own strained face - and I'm telling you now, I still don't know the full cost of war.

The future may bring a day where my husband doesn't snap out of a nightmare and our lives come crashing down around us. Lives that have already been turned upside down by Iraq. Yet as much as I could tell about the cost of war, I still don't understand its full cost...and I hope I never do.

[Egnever]

1. And yet people keep lining up to go

Odd isnt it?

[Solly Mack]

2. Nothing odd about poverty, which drives many to take the chance

Nothing odd about that at all.

[Echo In Light]

4. That aspect is calculated, but I'm guessing it doesn't apply to the majority

Going by the few I know who enlisted, and are/were under thirty, they want to be there b/c of sacred Belief Systems ... although I'm sure there's quite a few who want nothing more to do with it once they're stuck in the horror of it, realizing they're not "defending freedom" in any way, shape or form.

[Solly Mack]

5. Quite a few get nipped by the reality bug of realizing they've been

lied to...

Some believe it's patriotic to serve.

Some are the true believers that won't ever change their thinking.

Some serve for future ambitions and aspirations.

Some shouldn't be serving..for any reason...because they are a danger to themselves and others. (and no - that doesn't make for a good soldier)

Still, there are a lot of people in the military who use it as a means to better their earning power.

[Echo In Light]

3. K&R

[tekisui]

6. knr!~

[bigjohn16]

7. K&R

[G_j]

8. thank you

K&R

[mopinko]

9. no such thing as winning,

that's for sure.

[malaise]

10. End the senseless wars

Rec

[blindpig]

11. k&r, sadly

[Swamp Rat]

12. k&r

[Solly Mack]

13. Hey Swamp!

Hope all is well with you.