Mojo
I am in complete agreement that veterans are neglected.
There are two poems that resonate with me.
the first :
I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier
Ten million soldiers to the war have gone,
Who may never return again.
Ten million mother's hearts must break
For the ones who died in vain.
Head bowed down in sorrow
In her lonely years,
I heard a mother murmur thru' her tears:
Chorus
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,
It's time to lay the sword and gun away.
There'd be no war today,
If mothers all would say,
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier."
Verse 2
What victory can cheer a mother's heart,
When she looks at her blighted home?
What victory can bring her back
All she cared to call her own?
Let each mother answer
In the years to be,
Remember that my boy belongs to me!
The second is Alfred L. Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade
My favorite verse ......
'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
I have 6 bothers - 4 of whom served in the military....
all while my mom was left with a farm, 3 girls and an infant - ( Me) and her husband burned to death in an industrial accident.
She never complained, never committed suicide
I grew up in the Viet Nam war era.... it was awful.
One of my best friends in college was a Viet vet.... Left U.S. as a farm boy, came back a deranged druggie
Now .... crazy as a loon , but still a great guy.
When we pay millions of dollars to someone to play golf, baseball , football or anything else and then turn around and tell a vet that we're out of money for psych help or to keep vet hospitals going - there is something drastically wrong with society.
War is hell - no doubt about it.... look at the senseless battles where thousands died for a few feet of turf.
It would be best to make a rule that whoever decides to go to war.... their sons and family have to go first.
I make my 8th graders read Johnny Get Your Gun .... when we do WWI. Very moving story.
As far as Cecil, you could have picked a thousand other examples of pedistilling - like making athletes, celebrities of all kinds, and Hollywood stars.... seemingly Gods before our very eyes...........all Bullshit to me..... but Cecil was and is a social issue that deems notice as well. Dissing that is incorrect, putting it in perspective is a requirement of the reader. I know it does not parallel any human life, but it is still important.
I think you are wrong that no one cares... many of us do in fact care.
With that sdaid however..... - I am grateful for every veteran that wears or has worn a uniform. War is hell, always will be.
Your words are powerful and well intended and I thank you for that.
and now to tie two threads together...
Phil Wrote a poem about spousal abuse ----
I sent a site that includes this fact
The number of American troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2012 was 6,488. The number of American women who were murdered by current or ex male partners during that time was 11,766. That's nearly double the amount of casualties lost during war.
No telling how many committed suicide and went unreported .....
Freaking life is tough - it can be cruel...... HOPE everyone on Chordie has a GREAT LIFE and never has to deal with such stuff !
I liked your song... well done Mojo- never expect anything less from you 
!
Love you all and I hope war some how stops .... bc the next WW will probably be the last ... and I just found out that I am going to be a grandfather to a baby boy in January.
You are one of the best MOJO --- keep 'em coming...
Jim