This pic is on today's NYTimes front page, above the fold. Check the t-shirt.

[Bozita]

Chip Litherland for The New York Times
Among those looking for him were the Vietnam veterans Charlie Shaughnessy, right, and Thomas McCarthy, known as Wolf.

Here's the article to which the photo was linked:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/31war.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

March 31, 2008
FIVE YEARS IN
Tracking a Marine Lost at Home

By DAMIEN CAVE
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — A week after Eric W. Hall disappeared into the woods of Southwest Florida, his mother stood in a parking lot overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. She had asked for volunteers. Would they come?

Becky Hall’s son had experienced a flashback, fleeing a relative’s home after sensing that Iraqi insurgents had surrounded him. He was 24, a former Marine corporal from Indiana who had been medically discharged after a bomb ripped through his leg. Here, among the retirees and strip malls, he was a stranger.

And yet his absence spurred a community to action. More than 50 people stepped forward that first day in February. Others came later, young and old, contributing four-wheelers, pickup trucks, boats, horses, search-and-rescue dogs, and even a small plane.

They searched day in, day out for weeks because Mr. Hall’s story broke their hearts and, many said, because his case inspired them to look past arguments over whether the war was right or wrong. It was a mission, not a debate: A marine was missing and had to be found.

“He has these issues as a result of what we asked him to do,” said Kathryn Preston, 52, a botanist who spent time in the Army as a young woman and used her pontoon boat for the search. “It felt like we were responsible for him. People in the United States. All of us.”

more...

[EnviroBat]

1. Allright, that made me cry. I've got to get it together as I am at work...

[Dhalgren]

2. K&R...Just, K&R...

[grilled onions]

3. The War Does Not End When The Uniform Comes Off

They may come home to peace but in their minds they are still at war. While recruiters talk a good game about education benefits,travel etc the kids never see the entire picture. It doesn't help that this war is fairly "sanitized" on our news. As I remember Viet Nam was on our news every night. The fighting,the body count--it was all there. Now we have idiots with little flags on their lapels spouting out about how we are winning and we won't leave until the mission is accomplished. For many who come home the war will never be accomplished. It may be simply because there are no longer who they were. Physically they may no longer be able to do the job they once did. It could be mentally they will never function normally again. Lastly coming home in a box is final for them but to their family,wife,kids the war will always be a part of their daily loss.

[Mountainman]

14. "winning and we won't leave until the mission is accomplished"

Those are the words of people who don't know what they are talking about. At home war is like a football game to most people. Winning is what we want. Yet we never "win" we just make an agreement not to fight anymore. An agreement that could have been made before the fighting started.

Imagine you are suck in hell and nobody knows or cares.

[DainBramaged]

4. Tore me to pieces.

I have a brother, 62 years old, Vietnam Vet, we haven't seen or heard from him since my dad died in 1984. No records in over 20 years at the VA of him seeking help. His ex wife and daughter haven't heard from him since after the funeral.

He was severely injured by a "popper" in 1968. Never was the same after he came home in 1969. Was on his own, got married, had his daughter, then disappeared in 1979 and went homeless abandoning his family.

They didn't help him and thousands of other VietNam vets then and they won't be able to help the Iraq vets now. A generation lost, repeating itself because of a stupid war by a stupid man.


Had those memories buried good. Wish I had of passed on reading the story.

[alfredo]

10. The VA was openly hostile to Vietnam era vets. It took me decades to

get over my anger at them.

Many of us, not just combat vets, dropped out of society. It's how we coped. I was in intelligence, a very stress filled specialty. Though it was no where near what the grunt had to handle, it fucked us up too. There's some things I will have to take to my grave, even if it was declassified. I just can't bring myself to speak of it. I can speak of the USS Liberty, but that sends me off the edge.

The military is where idealism goes to die.

The only people I can trust is my brothers.

Your brother might be in contact with his brothers. You need to find his unit, look for it online and ask around. Someone may know him. It may be enough to know he's still alive. Let his brothers know you are thinking of him. Leave contact info, if he can, he will get back to you.

Your whole world changes, it bears little in common to the world non soldiers experience.

[calimary]

19. I"m sorry to hear that. You have my sympathies.

Our troops in Vietnam were SO badly treated. It was a crime. I was against that war, but I always felt bad for the troops. Some of them saw and lived through horrors that the rest of us can never even imagine.

I'm so sorry to hear this. That's so sad - and as with most wars and their broadest impact - so unnecessary.

[Richard Steele]

5. K&R- No comment necessary.

[w8liftinglady]

6. Take time to read the comments..and post one

[Bozita]

7. Agree. Some of those comments are filled with incredible emotion.

This one, for example...

2.March 31st, 2008 6:41 am
Link

"So?" Mr. Cheney?

"So?" you say?

"so" this. "So" this, multiplied by thousands of young men and women, and their families. "So" to the tune of $3,000,000,000,000 sucked from our nation's wealth, while our present and future adversaries prosper.

"So?" Mr. Cheney? So, God help us all, and deliver us from what you've done.

— Dwiltzee, Maine

[Bozita]

15. This comment got to me.

17.March 31st, 2008 6:41 am
Link

If I amy quote the eminent American Philosopher Arlo Guthrie from 1989:

WHEN A SOLDIER MAKES IT HOME
words and music by Arlo Guthrie

Halfway around the world tonight
In a strange and foreign land
A soldier packs his memories
As he leaves Afghanistan
And back home they don't know too much
There's just no way to tell
I guess you had to be there
For to know that war was hell

Chorus:
And there won't be any victory parades
For those that's coming back
They'll fly them in at midnight
And unload the body sacks
And the living will be walking down
A long and lonely road
Because nobody seems to care these days
When a soldier makes it home

They'll say it wasn't easy
Just another job well done
As the government in Kabul falls
To the sounds of rebel guns
And the faces of the comrades
Being blown out of the sky
Leaves you bitter with the feeling
That they didn't have to die

Chorus

Halfway around the world tonight
In a strange and foreign land
A soldier unpacks memories
That he saved from Vietnam
Back home they didn't know too much
There was just no way to tell
I guess you had to be there
For to know that war was hell

And there wasn't any big parades
For those that made it back
They flew them in at midnight
And unloaded all the sacks
And the living were left walking down
A long and lonely road
Because nobody seemed to care back then
When a soldier made it home

The night is coming quickly
And the stars are on their way
As I stare into the evening
Looking for the words to say
That I saw the lonely soldier
Just a boy that's far from home
And I saw that I was just like him
While upon this earth I roam

And there may not be any big parades
If I ever make it back
As I come home under cover
Through a world that can't keep track
Of the heroes who have fallen
Let alone the ones who won't
Which is why nobody seems to care
When a soldier makes it home

©1989 Arloco Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved.

— Steven, New York

[Frustratedlady]

8. I don't have words to express the mixture of anger and caring for that young man.

Throughout the story, there is a blending of Viet Nam and Iraq/Afghanistan. If given a chance, they take care of each other. What an incredible story that is.

I hate war.

[Bozita]

9. Here's the image of the front page of today's NYT ...

[Thickasabrick]

11. Thanks for posting this - I don't see how anyone could not cry after

reading the whole thing. There just are no words.

[Kurovski]

12. Cheney/Bush and the Republocan party in general do not support the troops.

And much of the Dem representatives are not doing a very good job, either.

[fizzgig]

13. what an absolutely heartbreaking story

k&r

[samsingh]

16. when the truth comes out - we'll hear that maybe 3% support bush

and everyone else hates him for the war criminal he is.

[Tatiana]

17. Jesus. God Bless the Halls and Wolf and Animal and everyone else who helped.

What a heartbreaking story, but one that deserves to be front page on every newspaper in America.

[donheld]

18. That's wonderful

thanks for sharing.

[tool_of_the_people]

20. K & R

I wonder how many more stories there are like this one that don't get on the front pages.

Just sad.

[mike_c]

21. damn....

:cry:

[Bozita]

22. Don't miss the multimedia presentation linked to this story.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/31war.html?em&ex=1207195200&en=51496714d3db9aec&ei=5070

Left column about half-way down.

[Mad_Dem_X]

23. Heartbreaking.

There are no words...

[Wind Dancer]

24. So very sad .....................

"This war has been a tragedy on so many fronts. Wrecked lives (here and in Iraq), a wrecked economy and a wrecked global reputation. The biggest tragedy is that all of this wreckage resulted from lies spoon fed to the American people by a group of megalomaniacs who felt it their destiny to change world order. If this isn't "high crimes and misdemeanors" then what is?"

— EdH, New Jersey

[Botany]

25. This damn war

The hurt, the pain, and the waste.

:cry:

[Alizaryn]

26. What a great article.

Thanks for sharing it.

[Triana]

27. God what a poignant and awful story..

....those poor people. :cry:

[mzmolly]

28. "wars do not always end when the warriors come home. On the home front, they last a lifetime."

Indeed. My Dad is a Vietnam Veteran who still suffers from PTSD.