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Help Save 1.800.SUICIDE

Moving a Nation to Care

by ePluribus Media rcs1
Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 06:46:19 PM EST

Read Aaron Barlow's review of Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops by Ilona Meagher (Ig Publishing) on the ePluribus Media Journal.

Below, Barlow provides additional reasons why it is a must read.

All veterans carry their wars with them. They cannot help it. We who remained at home need to respect that and provide much more for them than a pat on the back and commendation for a job well done. We really need to provide more for those who have been disabled by the war, physically, mentally, or both.


commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!
And that, though she concentrates on PTSD (one of today’s most crying yet unmet needs), is the point of Ilona Meagher’s book, Moving a Nation to Care—whatever we think of a particular war, we owe it to the veterans to insure they have the services they need, and for the rest of their lives. They can’t drop the war; we can’t drop them (though we have).

If I have any criticism at all, it’s the title of the book. Moving a Nation to Care is probably too timid. A title that really carries the anger that we should all be feeling about the treatment of our veterans, however, would never be accepted on bookstore shelves.

This isn’t only a book that each of us should read: it’s a roadmap to what we all should be doing, if we have any respect for ourselves and for the people who are willing to do the dirty work that (whether we agree with the specific or not) they do at “our” request.

Meagher's book appears at an important juncture for our veterans. The weight of their need is finally getting notice--this week's Washington Post revelations about Walter Reed hospital being only the most recent press tempest--but the gap between the problems and their solutions is growing, if anything. This is a problem we can alleviate. That we are not is a national disgrace. That we can is the point of Meagher's book.


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Display:
Moving a Nation to Care | 22 comments (22 topical, 0 hidden)
Excellent review, Aaron! (5.00 / 3) (#1)
and congratulations, Ilona!

by Cho on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 07:41:40 PM EST
A great kindness (5.00 / 2) (#6)
Thank you, Aaron and ePluribus Media!

You guys know how I feel about you, so I'll share the email I got from my publisher tonight:

Wow, that's some review!

It may not appear to be much, but that exclamation point means a lot. Trust me.

And I couldn't agree with it more. That is some review. THANK you one, and all. The orange version was a bit of a fast-burning supernova, but warmed the heart and brightened the soul for a spell under your steady hands. But now, I'm home. And I am contended.

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:33:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

er...that should be: (5.00 / 1) (#7)
contented (actually kind of a funny typo :o)

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:36:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks Aaron (5.00 / 4) (#2)
My comment on DKos expresses my appreciation to Ilona and all of those supporting this work on ePluribus Media.

by Welshman on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 07:57:08 PM EST
Welshman...thank you (5.00 / 1) (#8)
Have to return and reply, but have a deadline for another piece that I'm writing tonight.

So now I journey back home to all of you before I turn my attention to that work. I don't know if I ever had occassion to mention it earlier, but you're in my Acknowledgements section, Welshman. You have been a greater influence on me than you might imagine. Love your contributions; the only thing I'd like better is to have enough time for more back-and-forth.

Soon...until then, we have much to look forward to in the future.

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:40:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Ilona Has Moved Me... (5.00 / 4) (#3)
...to start activism on this issue.

Others will fee the same, I am sure.

by Aaron Barlow on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 08:02:27 PM EST

Can't wait to meet in May, Aaron... (5.00 / 1) (#9)
...and shake your hand personally.

Appreciate your taking the time to do the review, and generously sharing your own personal stories and connections to this issue. We are all connected to it, aren't we?

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:48:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Btw... (5.00 / 1) (#16)
We've got the following book tour dates so far: Hope to see some of you out there. Any other suggested stops I should make?

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 06:10:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Honolulu? (5.00 / 2) (#21)
Would love to meet you in person and have you sign my copy ...

by roxy317 on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 10:11:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Shoot! (5.00 / 2) (#4)
Should have added, consider buying this book from Powells (that way ePluribus Media gets a couple of pennies too!)

by Cho on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 08:27:34 PM EST
and double shoot... (5.00 / 3) (#5)
here's the link to BUY this book!

by Cho on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 08:31:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks to Aaron and Congratulations to Ilona! (5.00 / 4) (#10)
It's a happy moment!

Putting ideas like these into circulation is way of providing hope to people who may otherwise know only despair.

Trust can be re-generated where hope lives. But nothing good can come from despair. So, someone providing hope is truly doing the work of the good!

All the Best!

by Chris White on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 09:32:03 AM EST

Hope (5.00 / 1) (#15)
You know, you hit it on the head, Chris.

Although the book is meant to inspire some people to enter the fray who might not have imagined themselves doing such things (Aaron's on board? YEAAAH! :o), it really turned out ultimately to be a love letter of sorts to the military families and vets who helped me to write it -- and flowing out to the rest. So glad to have had a chance to at least put it down on paper and into the record that many of us average citizens DO care about them and are ready to advocate and help them in any way we can. Thanks, Chris!

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 06:07:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Yes, precisely (5.00 / 3) (#18)
The despair must come form the sense they were betrayed by what they believed they were representing, and there must be an internal correlative of that, like the person who they thought they were who responded to the call becomes the internal voice of the betrayer, rather than they're stronger part. Without hope there's no way dealing with that inner sense of self-betrayal, I don't think. But, of course that's not what any one has done except in the imaginings they're left with.

by Chris White on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 08:05:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thank Aaron, and thanks Ilona... (5.00 / 3) (#11)
I can't tell you how gratified I am that you have pushed this issue to national attention.  

by Jeff Huber on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 11:35:39 AM EST
Jeff..thank you! (5.00 / 2) (#17)
Your writing is always compelling and impressive, and related to the issues that affect our returning troops so directly. You inspire me, and leave me indebted to you and Ms. Ford for scooping me and this issue up last year and showing me how real pros go about tackling this important issues.

My work has solid links to your generosity and mentorship. THANK you, sir!

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 06:15:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Posted on my blog (5.00 / 3) (#12)
Bluedaze

And emailed to all my friends.

by TXsharon on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 02:21:48 PM EST

woo hoo! (5.00 / 2) (#13)
Thanks Txsharon!

by Cho on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 02:35:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ditto Cho's woo hoo.. Thanks, Sharon! (5.00 / 1) (#22)

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book
by ilona on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 01:31:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Aaron (5.00 / 3) (#14)
Your review is beautiful.  Your appreciation for good writing shines thru, as does your heart.

We knew about Ilona's, but this had more heart that some of your other pieces.  It had to be tough to be objective in light of personal experiences.

I just wanted to say:  well done.

by kfred on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 04:48:20 PM EST

Did anyone see the special on PBS (5.00 / 2) (#19)
about the Bonus Army March?   When the World War One vets marched on Washington in the thirties?

Chris, FDR wasn't so great judgement wise in that series!

Very interesting the history of our nation's relationships to the men and women from whom it asks the ultimate sacrifice.

by Cho on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 08:38:46 PM EST

Homecomings and Shortcomings (5.00 / 3) (#20)
It seems often it is a lot easier to send them off than it is to welcome them back.

But, I would blame the Indian atrocity style attack on the Bonus Army people on "Napoleon" MacArthur, out there looking both for his white horse, and to embarrass his commander in chief.

It would be interesting I think to compare the health care packages, treatment and care standards, retirement packages, and other job perquisites of the officer corps, with what happens to the enlisted men or women at the end of their hitch. Were officers above the rank of Colonel affected by what happened at Walter Reed, or do they have a special part of the facilities.

We probably all now the answer to that one. I can see officers having quarters of their own, but standards of care ought to be the same, access to service for need ought to be the same. Do officers, above the rank of probably Lieutenant or Captain, the ones who are out there with the troops show up with any of these problems Ilona is working on?

Sorry to be such a latter day Leveller, but a bit of Digging wouldn't hurt, and the Levellers did make up the combat core of Cromwell's New Model according to some!

by Chris White on Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 09:07:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Moving a Nation to Care | 22 comments (22 topical, 0 hidden)

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