Baiting the Veterans

Many people who know me as a peace-loving, faery-gardening, Tarot reading Medical Intuitive and Intuitive Life Coach will be surprised to learn that my ex-husband was a Vietnam Vet (yes, there was an age difference), and that my closest romantic soul connection (until David appeared in my life) was a Veteran of both Operation Desert Storm and Afghanistan (as a called up Reservist). At some point before I met him, he was also recruited by, but ultimately opted not to join The Delta Forces. Both of these men, in their own ways, are among the most intuitive/psychically gifted people I’ve ever encountered. For various reasons, I’ve maintained contact with neither of them; however, they do represent some complex interactions I’ve had with Veterans and their individual stories.

My ex-husband was drafted. He spent his time in Vietnam as a medic, learned near-fluent Vietnamese, kept pet praying mantises to combat mosquitoes, snuck off to provide emergency care to mixed-Vietnamese/White orphans hit by bombs, ran an underground anti-War newspaper, and spent significant time in Buddhist monasteries and as a guest at Vietnamese dinner tables while there.

My ex-boyfriend originally joined the Army to support a child that he later learned wasn’t even his, but during the course of his service, he developed a love of flying helicopters. Since flying lessons are prohibitively expensive for most people, he continued in the Army so that he could earn those coveted flight hours. When he left the service, he eventually returned as a Civilian Contractor, teaching others to fly.

From him, I learned that some servicemen in Afghanistan were trying to blow the whistle on drug running there, but these same people, who reported the illegal actions to their superiors, found themselves heavily persecuted instead of rewarded for telling the truth. I met one of his persecuted, whistle-blowing friends in person. It was also this ex-boyfriend who first mentioned to me (back in 1998) that many of his friends were getting ill or dying from Desert Storm Syndrome. He had no symptoms and attributed this to having been the only one he knew of to have thrown out all the Army’s mandatory vitamins. Make of that what you will. This is the boyfriend who found the herbalist/craniosacral therapist/holistic optometrist who first treated me and later gave me my first professional job as a Medical Intuitive.

Because my ex-husband had significant health issues and no medical insurance, I have spent a lot of time in Veterans’ hospitals and medical treatment centers. A lot. While there, I witnessed the effects of war by observing Veterans from WW2, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. I saw how they were injured and how they were treated. I know firsthand how my ex-husband was treated. Fortunately, we moved often enough that if one Vet Center refused to treat his raging Lyme Disease, we could transfer to another. Also fortunately, I know a thing or two about treating Lyme Disease via alternative means. 🙂

My mom’s step-dad — my step-grandfather — was a Korean War Vet, the only one of his Marine Platoon to survive. My first boyfriend’s dad was a Veteran. I have clients and friends who are Vets. Because of my own experience with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the frequency of blast injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, I feel an affinity with many who’ve had their entire reality structure and lives forcefully ripped away from them. I know how that feels, and I know the internal fortitude and struggle it takes to rebuild some semblance of a normal life when your brain no longer works the way it used to work and when your sense of Self no longer matches any of the things you were previously convinced “made you you.” I’ve heard more battle horror stories than most people could stomach, and I’ve heard more Veterans with a deep reverence for life than most people would believe. Taking a life, or being placed in a situation of needing to decide whether or not to take a life often flips a switch in people. There’s a reason for the astronomical suicide rate among our Veterans, and it’s not just the crappy care they get when they return.

I had written about half this article before heading to a meeting at Goshen High School, where I was privileged to speak to their JAG program students about a Neighborhood Youth Engagement Grant for planting fruit trees and possibly a community garden in a nearby park. The teacher and the students in his class completely blew me away. These are students specifically selected to join this program because they were either born into poverty, have parents with major issues or for some other reason represent a disadvantaged class of kids. The kinds of kids who often don’t graduate, make it to college or find employment. The JAG program focuses on “positive outcomes” and works to empower students to learn how to interact with adults, how to find responsible employment or other service or schooling. Normally, JAG requires 12 hours of community service per school year, but the teacher at Goshen High upped the standards. He requires 24 hours per year.

The students love him, and I can see why. They’re becoming integrated members of society, able to introduce themselves and articulate what they wish to accomplish or become. They receive support on job applications, internship opportunities, incentives for good attendance and graduation. They also will receive — for an entire year after graduation — monthly follow-up phone calls from their teacher. Accountability and encouragement. He partners with graduates to make sure they’re finding employment or staying in school. When military recruiters come to the school, he lets the recruiters talk and then offers his students a chance to ask him personal questions about his own military service. Because, yes, synchronously, this 31-year-old dynamo teacher who clearly loves and respects his students, who wants to provide them tools, skills and traits so that they can take care of themselves in the real world, this tough love teddy bear … is a Vet.

My point is that I have interacted with a lot of Veterans over the years, and — even though I love peace and look forward to a world without war — I’m not at war with Veterans. Yes, I’ve run into the occasional shoot-em-up racist jerk, but for the most part, the Veterans I know are good people who care about their neighbors, love their country and value freedom. Some see through the military industrial complex; others don’t, but they still, bottom line, desire to “do the right thing.” They still — for the most part — have a code of honor.

I’ve also met survivors of various wars and oppressive regimes. In college, one of my roommates grew up in East Germany. I traveled to Communist Russia during high school and have personally befriended people who escaped the Soviet Bloc. David’s dad grew up in Amsterdam during the WW2 Nazi Occupation. I have Jewish clients whose parents escaped the Holocaust, as well as one client whose parents never escaped but sent her out of the country for her own protection. I value peace. I want to live in a world of peace, and I am not at war with our Veterans.

Why all this talk about Vets, you might ask. Well, I have been watching the media and the government goad our Veterans into revolution. I’ve watched the charade of closing off open air memorials to honor fallen soldiers, even though it costs far more to guard these memorials that have independent funding than it would to keep them open. I’ve watched the media try to spin “Tea Party extremist Veterans” into social pariahs, and I’ve listened to politicians describe the shutdown in warlike terms. I’ve seen, in recent years, but especially in recent weeks, a very obvious (to me) attempt to spit upon our Veterans and to goad them into “doing something stupid” or set the stage to frame them for another false flag. And it breaks my heart. It’s dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible. And it’s being done on purpose.

My friend Gillian posted the video below on her site, and I felt called to share it here. Please know that we are all — really, truly, except for a small number of psychopaths pulling strings behind the curtain — in this together.

We’ve got some totalitarian BS happening in this country right now that would make Hitler, Stalin and Chairman Mao envious, and there’s much more to come if certain factions have their way. If you want peace, then I suggest you find a way to make peace with your neighbors. Make peace with each other. Make peace with Veterans who want to protect your Constitutional Rights. Even if you don’t know what these rights entail, you will not like it when you feel the wrath of naked vulnerability to a totalitarian regime. As I said, I’ve known people who escaped from brutal dictatorships and oppressive regimes. We take our way of life for granted here and most haven’t even noticed that only an empty shell remains. We are quickly becoming “land of the free, home of the brave” in platitudes only, unless something shifts ASAP.

Please: recognize the humanity in your fellow human beings. I’ve posted numerous times now “The Bankers Manifesto of 1892,” which outlines the playbook for divide and conquer two-party political tactics. If you think “the Tea Partiers,” “The Democrats” or “The Republicans” are the cause of all your problems, please know: you are being played for a fool. Those who would forcefully exert control over every aspect of our lives — our food, our beliefs, our minds, our homes, our neighborhoods, our water, our bodies, our environment, and more, honoring corporations over public interest — these psychos need you to fight with your neighbor. They want a Civil War on American soil. They want WW3. They want these things so badly they’re practically screaming for them, throwing tantrums and hissy fits because they haven’t happened yet. Both parties.

Please, for the love of your country, for the love of each other, and for the love of all that’s good and true and real in this entire world, please learn to recognize the humanity in each other. Learn to recognize who’s actually on your side even if neither of you yet recognizes your own ally. “The enemy of my enemy is my ally.” If you don’t want Martial Law in America, then it’s up to you — yes, each one of you, and me — to bridge the gaps, find ways to combine or complement strategies and to learn to see through BS attempts to provoke us all into vilifying and killing each other so the elite can swoop in with their “revolutionary solution.” Problem (which they fomented), Reaction (which they instigated) and Solution (which they designed). I guarantee, if we all work together, we can figure out something better than the eugencists and international dictators have planned for us.