A Veteran’s Story...

...And Donald Trump’s Appalling Comments

As we watch Donald Trump once again insult injured veterans, and those who sacrificed everything, I want to share a story that shakes me to my core every time I think of it.

It’s about a family friend.

At 19 or so, he went to Vietnam.

Army.

He never talks about it. But it’s clear he saw and experienced traumatizing things while there.

He came home, worked hard, and raised a family.

He’s now retired.

He never sought help from the VA because he felt that that was for veterans who’d endured injuries and challenges he hadn’t. Not someone like him.

But recently, his family convinced him to access the VA, so he finally did.

During a health screening, they found that a skin growth was cancerous, and scheduled surgery to remove it.

After the procedure, a nurse came to the waiting room, told family members that the surgery went well, and then asked if he had served in Vietnam.

“Yes. Why?”

The nurse explained that when he awoke, he was alarmed to be in the hospital.

He wanted to know what had happened to put him there, if his tankmates were ok, and he wanted to leave the hospital right away so he could get back out there to be with them.

“This happens a lot with Vietnam vets,” the nurse explained. “They wake up and still think they’re there.”

When the veteran’s relatives entered the room, he still was talking as if he was in a hospital in Vietnam. Still asking about his tankmates.

* * *

Think about that:

He went to Vietnam at 19. One tour.

He never talks about it.

Ever.

It’s more than 50 years later. He’s lived a whole life since returning. So many life events intervening along the way.

But when he comes to after anesthesia in his 70s, that tour and whatever hell he went through are still so close to the surface, he thinks he’s still there. He’s reliving it. And his first concern is to get out of the hospital and go help those he served with.

It makes me tear up whenever I think about his story. I teared up writing this.

What we ask of young people who put on the uniform.

How much they give. In the years they serve. And every year after they return.

How even those who return without physical injuries still live with their wartime experience (and trauma) the rest of their lives, just under the surface, but often don’t share it with even friends or loved ones.

As in this case, they may not even think to access the VA because they weren’t injured like others they knew.

But it’s all still there for them too. Right under the surface.

* * *

Of course, I think of this veteran as we hear another round of appalling comments about veterans from Donald Trump.

The comments Trump made the other day, and has made before, show that just under HIS surface is a shocking disrespect for those who serve our country. While our friend can’t help but relive his service as he recovers in a hospital bed, Trump’s lack of appreciation and respect runs so deep, he can’t help but having it constantly spill out. Privately. Publicly. Directly, to people who’ve served. And in ways that are both unbelievably crass but for Trump, absolutely comfortable.

Specifically, what he said the other day about winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor—national heroes who were injured or killed serving this nation—is beyond the pale. But the way he said it made it clear to me—in his sick and twisted mind, he’d thought the entire logic through well before last week. The comparison to the Presidential Medal of Freedom rolled off his tongue so easily, I have no doubt he’s said those words before in other company. And just like that audience applauded, Trump probably thought it was a good line.

If I had to guess, just like he called those who died in World War I “suckers” and “losers” when he was in France in 2018 (remember, he cancelled due to rain), my guess is that the sick thought about Medal of Honor recipients likely occurred to him while or after he bestowed such honors to veterans as president. Amid one of the most hallowed acts a president undertakes, that was the warped conclusion he drew.

Bottom line: Trump is unworthy of the veteran I’ve described above, let alone all the veterans who have served our nation, been wounded in that service, or paid the ultimate sacrifice.

He would be unworthy of representing and serving them at any level of office. And he is certainly unworthy of leading this country as its Commander in Chief, commanding the very forces he so disrespects.

Every Republican supporter of his should be asked their views of his comments.

And if they do anything but reject them unconditionally, they too are unworthy of public service.

JD Vance already walked that plank, by the way. He was asked about Trump’s comments yesterday. He called them “totally reasonable.” Which of course tells us that JD Vance is equally unworthy of office. Any office.

Veterans like our friend deserve so much more.

So does the nation.

PS — thanks to all the incredible responses to my post last week about recalling my dad’s service in the Navy during his hospital stay. Many shared not just stories, but photos of your or your own relative’s years in uniform. I sent some of them along.

Dad is home now, on the mend.