...results in a loss of some kind in someone's family. By loss, I mean that someone's child was killed in action. In order to deliver the message to a family the Army deploys a casualty assistance officer.
"Casualty assistance officer".
This is someone who gets to go to a family's house and tell them that their son or daughter is dead. As a father, I cannot imagine how horrible this must feel. I can only guess at the pain and emptiness I would feel. I would probably prefer to lose my home, job, limbs, and life before I would have to experience the loss of my child.
Sfgate.com has a story about a local family who received such a message. I recommend you check it out. Especially if you're a staunch Bush supporter, who still believes we went into Iraq because of WMDs, who spends $118 per tank to drive an SUV with a "Support the troops" sticker next to the Calvin pissing sticker on bin Laden's head, who then bitches about them terrorist killers, but who can't afford to pay medical insurance because your plant closed, and whose kids who go to an archaic school that was built in the 1950s school because federal education dollars have been siphoned off to support the Pentagon budget, but who was totally juiced about the $300 check Prezident Dubya was gonna give you because you could use it to buy more gas. Idiot. Meet me in the parking lot at 3 after school.
We're the United Fucking States of America. We have the largest GDP in THE WORLD (source: Central Intelligence Agency, 2005). The world.
Yet we have a nation that still suffers from inequities present in public education, affordable healthcare, and employment. Our country has been rated one of the worst places for children's quality of life. Yet we're able to allocate over $500 billion a year to the Pentagon. This figure outnumbers the 2nd place spender (China) by 8 times.
All things considered, I would say that we need to reevaluate our priorities.
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