Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome
This shirt reminds us all that the fight doesn’t end with the war.
Yesterday was full of reminders of our Veterans: beautiful tributes to their service, social media posts about their sacrifice, ceremonies to honor the fighting and the fallen. This is right and good and honorable.
But just as there is a morning after Veterans Day, when most of the country goes on with little thought to those who give their lives for our freedom, there is the morning after our soldiers come home, when most citizens go on with little thought for our soldiers’ continued– often unseen–struggle.
The world goes on, but they are never the same.
Yesterday, my friend Lauren Kong posted this photo of the shirt her husband, Veteran Jin Kong*, wears on Veterans Day.
In Lauren’s Words:
“This is my husband’s Veterans Day shirt. He wears it once a year.
It is a list of the men in his battalion who did not make it home.**
This shirt reminds me of the sacrifices men and women in our country make, some times for the benefit of few, most often for the benefit of many.
Towards the bottom of this shirt there are men who lost their lives after war.
This is a reminder that for a combat veteran, the fight doesn’t end when the war does.
They must come home and continue an unseen fight. For many, this is the most difficult aspect of their service. And this is why many end up isolated from friends and family, or even homeless…
We must remember those veterans today.
And remember that they need our help all year long.
There is no better way to appreciate them than to give back.”
Jin and Lauren Kong recommend the following organizations to support throughout the year:
DAV: Disabled Veterans of America
NEVER FORGOTTEN.
*Jin Kong served in the ‘Deuce Four’ battalion (24 Battalion–scroll down to find “OIF: Operation Iraqi Freedom”) from 2002-2006. He was in Mosul, Iraq from 2004-2005, and fought in the Battle of Mosul. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, JIN!
**Note from Jin: “1SG Bowman, the last name on that shirt, passed away of cancer, which may or may not be related to exposures to the environments in Iraq near and around those burn pits. We are also losing brothers to suicide not just from our BN but across the veterans population. ”
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More about Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome (Available in hardback, e-book and audio formats. Paperback coming 3/15/16.)
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