I AM desensitized, partly because I live this stuff. I see it and hear about it everywhere I look: wives on base talking about their husbands being gone, more deployments to here and there, friends talking about other friends in Iraq or 'the sandbox'. It's all just a part of daily life for me...something that I got used to. It's not until I hear or see things that strike particularly close to home that I really stop and think about it...and then I'm left incredibly saddened by it all.
That helmet in the picture...that was protecting someone's head. Someone's kid, someone's brother, or sister or friend. The blood that's on it...that came from a living, breathing, speaking, thinking, PERSON. A human being. Could have been someone you know. Could easily BE someone you know if this drags on long enough and the draft is reinstated...shit, if that happens, it could be YOU.
This war has been portrayed as a game of logistics in the media thus far. It's all about troop movements, and what we're going to do next and where. 'We're going to take Falluja'...yeah, but who's 'we'? Is the President going to go strap on a kevlar helmet, grab an M-16 and go? No. 'We' are people. Real people.
How many of you stop to think about what '10 GI's killed today' really means? Think about it like this: imagine 10 people you know. Now imagine them dead. All at once. Now imagine how many lives their death will affect in addition to your own. It would be pretty easy to get up into the hundreds, wouldn't it? And that's just from the deaths of 10 soldiers/ sailors/airmen.
Like I said, it's all so incredibly sad.
