Army life is no game
I am the mother of four boys and happened to be shopping at the Mt. Shasta mall last week. I have always been very involved in the lives of my boys, both in school and sports. At the end of this letter, there will be a lot of people who recognize my name - although for the past several months I have been "the missing mom."
Although the presence of military uniforms still makes my heart race, I fully appreciate what our service members are sacrificing by enlisting in our armed services. I continued through the mall with my husband and 17-year-old in search of a suit for homecoming. My curiosity still gets the better of me regarding the servicemen and women I see in uniform, so I stopped at the Army tables that were set up in center court. I have to admit I stood and watched the soldiers and all of the young people they were interacting with during their first meeting with "future soldiers." I stood there for what seemed like hours, thinking, remembering, and with a few tears.
My problem with what I was watching? Many of you will think, "Get over it, lady." How do you set up six laptops and one big screen with Army video games and pretend this is how it is? The mentality that was being demonstrated is no different than the mentality of gang members and drug dealers - "Look, it's not that bad. The bad things only happen to other people."
Trust me when I say this: Bad things do happen to good people; no one is exempt from the horror of war. I am disturbed by the way the Army is connecting with our young people, our future leaders. Video games? Please, step up and be honest. I feel our young people who want the best for our country will still show up. I know my son did and paid the ultimate sacrifice.
I miss you, Tyler, and am proud of you.
Dawn Vietti
http://www.redding.com/news/2010/jan/20/letters-to-the-editor-jan-20-2010/
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