Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for November 10, 2010

Alex, now, retracts her claws.

Tomorrow, November 11, Applebees is offering free meals to all military, active and retired in honor of Veteran’s Day. Enjoy!

One of the few upsides to Leo’s condition is being able to deflect the ‘it’s all about me’ questions from Alex.

..nice save..

I have to say: Alex looks rather fetching in the morning.

Nice reminder, tiftscript. To all our veterans: God bless you for your service and may your country never forget the sacrifices you and your family made.

So talking actually helps? I heard about immersion therapy and then of course, there are drugs, right? USMC SGT 85-92 ARNG/USAR SFC 93-07

I still haven’t figured out PTSD. I can see it in a combat vet, but I never was in a combat zone. I served from 1963 to 1967 and because of my MOS I was told I could not serve in Viet Nam or that area. The most violent thing I did in the service was to play flag football. I have nightmares of combat almost every night. I do not usually watch any violent movies or play any violent video games. The psychiatrists have been trying to figure it out for over 12 years and it was they who actually had me put in the papers for service-connected disability.. I was very surprised to get 100% disability not only from the VA, but also from Social Security in less than a year. What makes it worse is seeing the Marines here around Camp LeJeune who can’t get it.

God Bless all our veterans and their families! Thank you!

LEGACYSHOOTER: I finally beat you to posting! Still worried about you. Post every day and tell us how you are doing. Hope you are getting some good sleep. Still praying for you.

ASA Larry? I wish I had a better forum to address this. There are issues that arise even outside of harms way. If you haven’t read it yet, Edward Tick makes some sense of this in his book War and the Soul.

I expected Doonesbury to commemorate Veterans Day, but I’m surprised GT adds a touch of voyeurism. What has the relived violence of PTSD got to do with insecure women like Alex or Lila? GT’s just encouraging us cartoon dilettantes to imagine what it’s like to live dangerously. That wins him points with veterans, but I hope he’ll soon take the rest of us back to the real world of politics in which we have to live.

love IS real world, and love between young people with such a gulf between their experiences & natures (men & women, combat vet and college girl, speed-thinker.speaker & brain-damaged music geek) - is always interesting to us living beings.

It is funny that active and retired service people would be given free food at Applebees and the less fortunate former service personnel who could probably use the chow would be the ones who served in time of war fo say, less than 4 years. Did their duty, they did. Some even got wounded in action but didn’t take a disability for an “owie.” Most just served, though. Did things so unspeakable as to be nightmarish.

Then for some odd reason the support system failed them and they failed themselves and became homeless nere-do-wells. Being down and out might mean being hungry some times. Free meal even when trying to seem patriotic would go a long way for a war Veteran who has seen too much and can’t handle the details.

Of course, folks who served in the nation’s wars but are not still serving and decided to make a career out of being a civilian instead of a service member have no way to prove their service except for the piece of paper they got when they left the active military service world. Oh, that and a tattoo or two, maybe.

Oh, and today is the 235th USMC Birthday. Happy Birthday Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children.

Sgt USMC 1966 - 1970

palin, perhaps GT is combining his Veteran’s Day tribute with an implied continuation of his Bush Book theme by illustrating one of the valid legacies of war.

If so, it’s interesting because I think the topic does have subtle political implications, while it skates over making judgments on the moral issues at their heart. I think GT is at his best when he simply tells a story, as he is doing today, and lets the reader fill in the blanks al la tertium quid. Alternatively, when he clubs his readers over the head with exagerated examples that simply reflect his own opinions (or even prejudices), he loses my engagement.

Needy much, Alex?

Also, the Applebees offer is for all veterans.

USMC CPL 1975-1979 Marine Corps Birthday today. Veterans Day tomorrow. @Larry-even those of us who didn’t see combat were effected by the seriousness of the events of the times and our connections with our fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines.

I’m currently at a Vet shelter in Worcester MA and the guys there are all doing their best to overcome their situations and carry on with life. The assistance we are receiving is appreciated and we all hope to continue on our paths and better our circumstances. Semper Fi

@legacyshooter and Joe—-Semper Fi brothers. USMC Cpl 1968 to 1972. I only wish that the system were better geared to help all Vets. It’s only by God’s goodness and mercy that I am able post on this site, can eat regularly, I have a roof and I have a job. God bless all you Vets both peacetime and wartime. I personally think that giving peace a chance would enhance life on this planet.

@ Setebos,

Alex has indeed been, ummm, filling out up front lately. Perhaps she’s pre…

Chrisnp - Thanks for the info.

My own summation of war-Viet Nam- PTSD. My thanks to GT and Alex:

WITHIN

War is the death of innocence, spawn of reality. Survival of the act, a matter of luck. Surviving the consequences, a matter of faith.

Courage is the capacity for silence. The crash and roar are bearable, Empty silence - the imminence of death.

Roar of a heartbeat, mask of rain, Where comes the ability to cope? Within.

When war is gone, it is missed. The danger … Action … The something!

This was a war others would win. Losers must draw, Within.

Silence became the roar of crowds, Parades and welcome, Absent.

A touch would comfort, A kiss drive away the pain, Love confront the silence,

Within.

@Mightaswellbe: My late husband was the systems analyst who wrote the programs to shoot those missies off your sub. (NSWC/Dahlgren, VA, ret 1986) He hated killing anything, didn’t understand hunters, made me kill any spider that frighted me. I asked him once how the horrible outcome would affect him if his program was used. His answer-“I only thought how I was protecting Americans.”

Yet another platoon heard from: 304 MCRD-SD 1964-1972, Sgt USMC 6236/8981 (Aero-1A Fire Control Radar/MARS Radio Op). RVN twice (DaNang, Chu Lai).

‘235 years of Tradition’ today (1775-2010), ‘not five minutes of Progress’. Tomorrow 11/11 known as ‘recuperation day’. Met the second wife 28 years ago tomorrow, blind date.

Thanks to all who served, and may the nightmares abate for all.

Thankful for a wonderful (second) family, a roof, and until 2004, a job.

Semper Fi! to all, especially Potrzebie, Legacy, Joe, John for sharing…

MIGHTASWELLBE Would you believe my brother wrote the same programs as my husband did for the navy for the AF. He was at SAC base with his programs on the B-52 sitting on the runway at all times. He felt the same way, sitting there at Offutt.

Tomorrow is Armistice Day. I wish a happy one to all, and may we have a world in peace by this time next year, which will be 11/11/11.