THE DORMANT LEGACIES OF WAR
(…are those that remain unvoiced…since these are much too costly to be acknowledged)

With Memorial Day coming up shortly (well, observed by some…but largely ignored by many these days), we can expect to see and hear all sorts of career politicos of both high and low degree mouthing their usual platitudes about why we set aside this day to honor fellow Americans who died for duty, honor, and country, etc., etc., etc.. They naturally make no mention that the dormant legacies of war…are those that remain unvoiced…since these are much too costly to be acknowledged.

Thus the hypocrisy of such officials’ solemn performances on this occasion is…rank…to say the least, because, while they extol those who were lucky enough to come home in a flag-draped box, they largely ignore the others who survived to come marching home… that is, those that sacrificed both limb and health instead. The ones who must then endure long-term pain and suffering from all sorts of health problems deriving from those same legacies of war.

Of course, that’s because many of these remain dormant for long after active war has ended, never really becoming apparent, or displaying symptoms, until many years later. We’ve seen this with those who took part in the Nevada atomic tests who showed no initial radiation related ill-effects until thirty, forty, even fifty years later. Similarly, many who served in Vietnam were exposed (accidently or otherwise) to that defoliant called Agent Orange, many not developing symptoms until after their return home.

We know of one such young Marine from Oklahoma, who, almost twenty years later, became ill and physically incapable of doing his work as a lineman for a local utility, and ultimately died of it. More recently, of an Army veteran who, only now, some fifty years later, appears to have developed a rare blood disease with a medical name longer than that of any ancient Assyrian monarch. Nor should we overlook that infamous Gulf War Syndrome, which not only afflicted those who had served there, but was also transmitted to some of their family members as well (apparently because the field uniforms they came home in were contaminated with some sort of radio-active desert dust, the source of which is still debated).

These dormant legacies of war remain unacknowledged by both our politicos and the VA bureaucracy they control, so they can hide behind the shield of…”lacking verifiable causative links” to do so. In turn, those moneyed interests who control our politicos apply their lobbying powers to maintain that position…thereby avoiding the enormous costs they might otherwise incur for the damages which have resulted from those products. Indeed, venality…thy name is…America.

The irony here is that, while the manufacturers and producers who made such products for our government’s military adventures around the world (accruing huge profits in the process) remain immune from such costs, whereas those who produced a strictly peace time product, with potentially similar delayed impacts, were not. Well, for a very long time, that is, until it was found that their product was harmful, and thus, eventually, they were made accountable, and forced to set up a multi-billion dollar fund to compensate those who had been damaged from exposure to their product. A product causing a disease named – mesothelioma – a rare form of lung cancer caused by exposure to…asbestos.

The question that must be asked here, therefore, is this: If manufacturers of a product long innocently thought to be perfectly safe, and having many useful applications (does anyone remember those pot holders?), was ultimately found to be hazardous to health, and thus proscribed (it takes a HAZMAT team approach and process to remove any of it found today), and for which they have now been forced to pay to cover the health damages caused by it many years later…why then is there not a similar kind of funding requirement imposed upon those manufacturers who produced things like Agent Orange, etc., and almost exclusively only dumped on those who served?

Yes, we honor all our dead heroes on Memorial Day….but for those who aren’t…it seems it’s always just going to be…hasta la vista…Baby!

CENTURION