Invisible war

[dogday]

Citizens should take time today to focus on the continuing sacrifices of American military personnel serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

MEMORIAL Day traditionally honors those who have given their lives in the service of their country during wartime. Unlike most past wars, the continuing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan often have seemed out of sight and out of mind. But the toll is heartbreaking: more than 2,700 deaths of U.S. personnel as well as many thousands who have returned home with serious injuries, including a high percentage of amputees resulting from deadly roadside explosives.

A Washington Post sampling of some of the more than 550,000 veterans who have served in Iraq since the invasion in 2003 found a consistent belief by returning soldiers that despite extensive media coverage, the American public is largely untouched by the war and uncomprehending of soldiers' sacrifices, beyond putting yellow ribbon decals on cars and staging a few welcome home parades.

Houston state Rep. Rick Noriega says he had the same sensation during the recent special session of the Texas Legislature after returning from service in Afghanistan. Lawmakers introduced memorial resolutions for fallen Texas soldiers almost daily, but there were few other indications that a grinding, bloody war was continuing somewhere else in the world.

"Everyone was extremely sincere in their intent," the legislator said. "But what struck me was that it had just become a routine, we were doing it so much ... it was just real peculiar to me, extremely odd."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/3912041.html