NO PAIN NO GAIN

NO PAIN, NO GAIN
Wife's tribute to her husband


This country isn’t at war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Americans have no clue what it’s about, they sacrifice nothing, they feel no pain. Only the military family is at war, and they sacrifice all. No one should be able to send our kids into combat unless they send their own as well. My husband told friends that he’d experienced the pain of war and that was a lesson he really didn’t want his sons to learn. He was very angry at the way the war has been run, especially the repeated combat tours with no recovery time in between. And he often asked civilians how they expected soldiers who were trained to fight and kill people, to be policemen and nation builders. How could they expect a soldier whose instinct was to kill before he was killed to think and ask questions and determine if someone was truly a threat? And then you expect them to come home and behave like perfect gentlemen?

He has been a long term advocate of universal service. It’s one of the few times we agreed with Charlie Rangel! He was very proud of the fact that 3 of his kids did serve their country.

My husband was desperately waiting until people got tired of the war and realized they’ll be paying for care of thousands of injured troops forever--a theme he used often, Nothing’s too good for the soldier, and that’s exactly what they’ll get. Nothing.”