I was in Boulder recently when I overheard a conversation among several NRA members. They were commenting about hearing President Trump talk about going to war with Afghanistan. Then they began to sing "We're going to war, we're going to war" and doing a little dance. I was appalled!
These obviously are men who shoot at targets which don't shoot back so have never experienced one or more of their comrades being killed or wounded by a bullet or a grenade fragment or heard the whistle of a cannon shot passing overhead or landing among them. It sounded as though they visualized war as a big game which grown-ups were able to play for a while and then go home, have a drink and talk about how much fun they had and wonder when they can do it again.
I was a medical corpsman in World War II and served on Guadalcanal. Among my patients was a young man who had been wounded by a rifle grenade. Despite all we did for him, he died without regaining consciousness. I had another patient who had been wounded in such a way that his paralyzed body could not bear anything touching him, so he had a wooden frame over his bed to hold the sheet off his body yet provide warmth.
Then, on May 29, the front page of the Times-Call carried the lead story for Memorial Day titled "Keep remembering" and John Reid, a former Marine, told the audience at the graveyard that he had escorted the body of Sgt. William Stacey home to his parents in Seattle in 2012. He said telling Stacey's mother that her son was "finally home" was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do.
But keep hearing those NRA members singing their little song.
Lee Springer
Longmont