One of my favorite songs is ‘‘Heroes” by The Commodores. The inspirational lyrics extol everyday people for their feats and courage. Although the song was released in 1980, its message is still relevant today: ‘‘Heroes make the sun rise in the morning. Heroes make the moon shine bright at night. Heroes make our lives a little stronger; in the soul of everyone he can be found.”
Recently, after a dental appointment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., I decided to visit Ward 57, the first stop for many of our most severely injured warriors of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. You don’t have to spend long in this ward, which treats mostly amputees, to realize who the real heroes are in our society.
They are young men like Spc. William Steele, a 21-year-old from Chicago, whose leg was severely injured when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb while he was serving in Afghanistan. His roommate Pfc. Daryl Pelland, a 20-year-old from Boston, suffered damage to his ankle from a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq. The three of us, Steele in his wheelchair and Pelland on crutches, spent time talking about how they were coping with their injuries — both physically and emotionally.
As I spent time in this ward, and saw firsthand the horrific wounds suffered by so many of our Soldiers, I assumed that they must harbor deep resentment against those who attacked them. But when I talked with Steele and Pelland, they expressed no such animosity. In fact, their outlooks were positive, and they were excited about life after the military. They were more concerned about the buddies they left behind or felt guilty that they survived while others do not.
I found the same dynamic to be true when I visited 28 wounded warriors on a C-17 transport jet at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Like many troops who leave the battlefield, these brave souls also expressed feelings of both guilt and thanks. They felt guilty because their buddies were still in harms way, and thankful, because they were home. Yet even many of those who return home suffer from broken bodies, broken families and have difficulty finding jobs.
No doubt, the best way to honor our troops is not to simply acknowledge their sacrifices on Veterans Day or Memorial Day, but to make sure year-round that we as a nation use every available resource to address their physical, emotional and financial needs.
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