Tuesday, February 26, 2008

An Iraq Veteran Speaks


Quote of the day:
“Montreal is having problems disposing of the snow. One massive mound is around 80-feet high and officials told reporters that unless steps were taken to dismantle the pile, much of it would still be there when next winter started.”
--David Ljunggren, at reuters.com

A few weeks ago, I went to see Hillary Clinton speak at San Diego State. Actually, I was a volunteer, doing crowd control.

I got to talking with a fellow volunteer, who said this would be her first time voting, and her mother’s first time voting. Her mother had just become a citizen and was very interested in politics.

She was about 30 and had just left the military after eight years of service. She’d been to Iraq twice. It really sticks with me how gently and matter-of-factly she said, “we need to get out of there and never do this again. It’s a mess.”

She was looking forward to going to college with the help of the GI Bill, but lamented how little help the GI Bill is these days. Many of her fellow veterans were also having trouble getting the care and the help they needed.

This was not a wild-eyed, fanatic person. She struck me as someone who simply was trying to live a good life and do her part.

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