Thread by @ABustedBoomer

#militarybrats give their moms and/or dads to the nation, sort of. As painful as it is to admit, what really happens is our moms and/or dads give first preference to the nation and its interests over and above those of their families.
@RepWalterJones
@SenatorBurr
@SenThomTillis

We engage in behaviors that help us cope with being second- or third-most important ... we speak with pride about their service and their sacrifice ... we defend their judgments while doubting them ourselves.

@USMC

All of us live in the shadow of that half-regret, loving a parent that is often unavailable and when present is still emotionally distant.
@RepWalterJones
@SenatorBurr
@SenThomTillis

Some of us suffer more than others ... shouldn't a dad be there to protect a son from a predator priest, rather than stomping through the jungles of some farflung land, in service of a mission shrouded in secrecy because the truth is that most war is unjustifiable? @DeptofDefense

But all of us suffer ... we are moved from place to place with little notice ... deprived of the circumstances in which deep and long-lasting friendships can be grown. Oh, we talk the good game of how tough we are ... and sometimes we are.

But then you are sitting in the doctor's office, wondering about the miscarriage your #militarybrat wife had, and then the second one, and the third one, and the fourth one.

And you're holding the now deceased remains of your baby daughter, Grace, who miscarried at fourteen weeks and just fills the palm of your hand. And your eyes begin swimming in a sea of pain and hot fiery tears.

And then you're sitting in a psychiatrist's office, being told that you have Major Depressive Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. And you feel the utter failure in life that no one would confuse with one of those hardy #militarybrats.

And you're unemployed and unemployable ... hated by men that you worked with for twenty-five years because your shames have been made public ... and the psychiatrist prescribes you heavy medications to address your major depression and PTSD.

But once you lose your job, you lose your insurance, and you have no means of paying for medicines or counseling. So you tough it out and hope that you don't convince yourself that you can make the world a better place simply by leaving it.

Then, one day, you watch a documentary. It's about the poisoning of an entire community over decades. The community is one you know. You lived aboard the Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

And while you lived there, it now turns out, you were continuously exposed to seriously dangerous chemicals that were found in your drinking water, your bathing water, your showering water, the water in the fountains at your base high school.

The water used to make coffee in the morning and tea late at night. The water mom used when boiling spaghetti noodles. The water that should be the elixir of life was poisoned and poisoning you.

Worse.

You discover that the United States government was trying to shirk responsibility for the harms it inflicted on you, on your brothers and sisters, on your parents, on the sweet young lady that would become your life partner one day.

And could the government be shamed into aiding those it was killing? Killing with poisoned water?

No. Not really.

Oh, the government could be cajoled into reimbursing incurred expenses for treatment ...

an outcome that does nothing for those that have no insurance and no means to obtain treatment with a hope of future reimbursement.

I'll always love my dad ... but for the balance of my life I will curse his decision to give his family's health over into the hands of a @USMC that doesn't care and that hasn't helped.

@RepWalterJones
@SenatorBurr
@SenThomTillis

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