As I read Sunday’s Washington Post there was an article that caught my eye: The War Inside.

(For the one page version click http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061600866_pf.html)

This story is about the men we have sent to fight for us, to risk their lives, in many, many cases to return missing arms, legs, eyes, disfigured for the remainder of their lives, and even to return dead in a flag draped coffin we are not allowed to see.

These men have returned with severe mental challenges.

And, as this story documents, the system can’t even keep their records straight.

Ignore the military big shots who think that real men don’t have mental problems.

Ignore the bureaucrats who want to control costs by denying diagnosis.

The system you and I spend billions for can’t even keep their records straight.

This story is part of a series the Washington Post is doing.

As I read it I realize that things are this way, in part, because of me. Because I didn’t help hard enough to elect other people. Because I didn’t write and call often enough those we did elect. I can blame the government, but I elect the government.

This story is a story of the embarrassingly shameful way you and I are treating these men.

How did I let this happen?