With great sadness in our hearts, Women In Black wishes to honor the memory of all who have been killed and wounded in body and spirit in wars these past 10 years.
In these years, we have witnessed a decrease in the number of our service personnel “in harm’s way.” But this decrease has really not lessened U.S. casualties.
For the first time during these wars, a new, more troubling statistic is emerging: There are now more troops taking their own lives than there are those being killed in combat.
Suicide among our troops is at an all-time high, and we grieve for the families who lose their loved ones to the aftermath of this kind of violence.
Also, the reduction in combat has brought about an increase in the number of “drone strikes.”
Sadly, we see here, too, that participating in this kind of violence also causes havoc with the lives of the drone pilots. The incidence of PTSD is rising among those troops as well.
We are saddened by the lack of adequate response our Congress has had to these developments. Have we seen real and substantial increases in funding for our VA hospitals? Has there been real and substantial increases in psychiatric support for these troops?
How can we say “We support our troops” and then sweep aside drastic repercussions in these very troops’ lives? Where is the support for these troops we sent “into harm’s way” — multiple times, for many of them!
Women In Black stands every Friday evening in Gig Harbor for peace, justice and mercy. At our 10th anniversary, we say stand with us — really support the troops — work to get more and better care for our service members.
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