The Sunshine Empire

Yesterday evening I received a call from my mother informing me that my uncle Kenny had passed away from an apparent heart attack. Her stepbrother was a quiet, sweet man who lived almost as a recluse. After his service during the Vietnam War he was irreparably changed. The horrible reaction of the American people to vets coming home from Vietnam aside, the psychological effects of the war were ignored and a generation of young men suffered because of it. I write this only because today we are welcoming our soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, but I believe we are still ignoring the frightening psychological after-effects that will affect these brave men and women for the rest of their lives. Due to the all-volunteer army, the general American public is only passively aware of this need for psychiatric after care on the home front. This needs to be a priority for this country, but until then Godspeed Kenny.