6.01.2010

elliott's war






while some of us go
to the beach and relax
on memorial day



others are still
over there.



physically



as well as
emotionally.




back in 2006,
my sister, lauren cerre,
did an incredible story on
a young, optimistic marine
my father met while he
was embedded in iraq
during the invasion.



elliott now fights
an everyday battle
he never anticipated
back home in
montana.




PTSD
post traumatic stress disorder
is a war wound we don't
hear enough about.



1 in 8
troops returning
from the middle east
have PTSD.



"the war within"



elliott is
just 1 story





ps:


i must say,
i shed a few tears
watching this piece again.



it's still so haunting
to see my father's footage
and to hear his voice at times
in the audio track.



it brings back so
many memories.



4 months of
not knowing what
was going to happen.



15 comments:

Jane Cornwell said...

I love your blog and have for a long time. Today though I somehow feel compelled to write, after last night saying goodbye to my son who is going to Afghanistan. I appreciate your compassion. May all people everywhere be held in loving kindness.

Anonymous said...

thank you for posting. Always a good reminder that the long weekend is more than just a holiday.

LaurenC said...

Jane, You and your son are in my thoughts.

Cerré said...

mine as well.
semper fi.


lee

Sara said...

thanks for sharing this. Aside from it's powerful content i am inspired by you and your family- the values both to work and do good and to enjoy life and beauty, and each other.

Unknown said...

Yes but we should never forget the innocent civilians and victims of war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJnXLYnu2Gc

Yanyan said...

Thanks for sharing. It is tough to watch and very moving. I still remember once I saw in the airport a mother dropped her handbag on the floor, cried and ran to her son who was in uniform and just returned from the war. I have a son myself, he is only 19 months old but I could never imaging sending him to any war. I hope never.

Bonito said...

I can not express in english my feelings about war, so:
que mierda la guerra esta!

lolajohn said...

I don´t agree with war, I don´t agree with sending our familly to war. I have always felt very distance from the people who did; but now I might understand a little bit more, I feel nearer, maybe, to Mr Elliot. Thanks

Anonymous said...

While human interest stories are touching, the reality is that most of the folk that go into the armed forces are doing it for a job, not because they have any idealistic notions about the sanctity of national interests.

Without politics, there is no war.

Cerré said...

it makes me sick by how little we sacrifice back home during war.

if we were more effected/affected, there would be a national cry to pull the troops out.

but as we know, our hands our too dirty at this point. pulling out is a greater humanitarian risk.

gosh i hate war.

i wish we could turn back time to 2003 and impeach our former President Bush before he let his ignorant mind spoil all opportunity for future peace.

lee

Anonymous said...

Lee, just what 'humanitarian risk' would there be for the US if US troops pulled out of Irag and/or Afghanistan? Is there some concern for how the Iraqis or Afghans would butcher each other? Let them --because if that is the kind of society they have created, so much so that an occupying force is necessary to keep the vying sects/clans/tribes separated (though that is not the true why US troops are there in the first place), then why should we care? The US doesn't stop the cruelty in Africa, in Palestine, in Chechnya, so why there--where empires have foundered (British, Russian)?

Cerré said...

now the conversation is getting interesting...

Anonymous said...

While the rest the country continues to head to the mall,I'm glad you're sharing your knowledge on how life will never be the same for those "whose hearts will have forever been touched by fire" .

Semper Fi & Peace,
Dad

DM said...

My father has had PTSD my entire life. I never knew the man who was voted "funniest" in high school, instead the sombre, melancholic man whose PTSD has now paralyzed his right hand 43 years after leaving Vietnam. Thank you Lee for posting this beautiful peace.