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‘The Ground Truth’ exposes audiences to war
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The Flicks was packed for the debut of the newly-released documentary, “The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends.” The first segment of this documentary portrayed the reality of the training of soldiers after joining the armed forces. The last half of the documentary detailed how these soldiers struggled to come to terms with what they faced when they went back home.
Many are familiar with the heroic pictures of soldiers and seeming glory of the war against the enemies in Iraq, but this documentary depicts the contrary and poses an important question: Who is the enemy?
Since the cost of the war is continuing to increase everyday, soldiers do whatever they can to provide protection from making their own vehicle armor to killing any and all people in an area where they are being shot at. This has put many innocent Iraqi men, women and children close to violence and even death.
One of the veterans interviewed in the documentary commented that it’s effective and keeps soldiers from being harmed.
However, soldiers who put value on human life and want to keep their conscience clear by not killing innocent civilians also put themselves in incredible risk because the enemies in Iraq look just like civilians and use this as a cover to continue to fight Americans without revealing themselves.
Through all of this, soldiers serving in Iraq have become prone to illness, amputation, injury, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Our own government does not provide strong services to these veterans who have been through more than they could ever express.
What this documentary was unable to convey was brought to light in an interview with Idaho veterans.
These veterans made a few distinct points about the aftershock of seeing war firsthand.
The first point was that when soldiers return from war they are different people from who they once were. Family and friends assume since their loved one looks pretty much the same that they can go back to what was once reality.
The truth is that what the soldier feels inside is completely different from what they felt before they signed up for the military.
With this in mind, the veterans posed a challenge. If you know of someone who has been to war, take time to listen to them and ask them questions that will evoke responses about what they have been through.
The second point one of the veterans made was that putting a bumper sticker or ribbon magnets with the statement “support the troops” is actually frustrating to soldiers.
The intention of the bumper stickers for many Americans is that getting the message out to other people will ensure that no one looks down on soldiers for being in a war that many do not agree with.
Many times we speak out against the soldiers, instead of the war that they were trained for.
This may sound unpatriotic, but the resounding answer from many veterans is for people to remove their stickers and magnets and focus time and attention on personally caring for soldiers who have come back from the circumstance of war.
For more information or to volunteer to help in some capacity, go to any of the following links: www.va.gov/res, www.optruth.org, www.vets4vets.org, www.NGWRC.org or www.VFP.org.
STEVE ALHBORN
Culture Writer
