The State of the Bland Address

I'll admit it. I just read Clarissa's and Nik's blogs and they inspired me to rant. :) I apologize in advance.

The war in Iraq terrifies me. I just saw a guy from my high school who was over there for two years. He said that he has flashbacks. Why isn't there a program or something for soldiers when they return to America so that they can be analyzed for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Our country trains men and women to "fight the ragheads." They dehumanize the enemy and tell them to run over children if they get in the way. Most people's response to this is "Well, they need to do what is necessary." Shouldn't the necessary thing to do be to protect human life? I think people tend to forget that we are all humans. The only difference is culture and geography. I see all these young men and women signing up for the military and I want to say, "Do you really know what you're getting into?" I spoke with a recruiter and he said that every person he recruited was doing it for college money or benefits. None of them were doing it to be "patriotic." Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT saying that anyone in the military is stupid. I am saying that the military should paint an accurate picture of Iraq before sending them over.