The Other Casualties of War

You don't have to die to make the ultimate sacrifice


When war started in Iraq, a generation of U.S. women became involved as never before-- in a wider-than-ever array of jobs, for long deployments, in a conflict with daily bloodshed. More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among their ranks are more than 16,000 single mothers, according to the Pentagon, a number that military experts say is unprecedented.

How these women have coped and how their children are managing has gone little noticed as the war stretches across a fourth year.

In the military, parental status is not a barrier to serving in a war. All deploy when the call comes -- single mothers, single fathers, married couples -- relying on a "family-care plan" that designates a caregiver for children when parents are gone.

But war duty can be especially difficult for single parents. A year ago, Sgt. Leana Nishimura returned to the United States to face practical difficulties, emotional issues, and unavoidable questions concerning her children: Will there be another deployment? What if a parent does not come back?


This is her story...



What strikes me most about this tragic story is that when Sgt. Nishimura returned home, her life in shambles, it was not the government who helped her get her get it back on track. She was broke, she had no job, no family, her kids were on the other side of the country with no means to get home, and she had no place to live even if she could bring them home.

The well-known charitable program, Operation Hero Miles, which donates airline miles to U.S. service members, was only geared to hospitalized troops and their families. She and her children did not qualify.

Fellow guardsmen offered to donate miles to her, only to learn that airlines would not allow such mileage transfers.

The pastor and elder of the church across the street delivered groceries.

Her new boss donated a bed for her daughter.

There were clothes and food and other help from volunteers.

Much of this happened because Nishimura was "adopted" by First Christian Church of Havre de Grace through a National Guard program, Partners in Care, which links needy soldiers with congregations.

Needy soldiers...

One of her senior officers, Maj. Timothy Mullen, wrote letters on her behalf, which inspired contributions for the plane tickets from three chapters of the 29th Division Association, a veterans group, and four churches.

Her children and their grandmother would board a Christmas day flight at a total cost of less than $1,500, covered largely by the generosity of strangers.

Private citizens, churches, and fellow soldiers. Not one ounce of help from the government she’d risked her life for. Not one penny from the government who tore her children’s live apart. How do you compensate for destroying a child emotionally?

Now multiply this scenario by at least ten thousand fold.

Think about this the next time you hear your president babble on about supporting our troops. There is no support for our troops. There are only shattered lives, and broken children...