On 18 August 2010 at 7:53 PM CT the 4th Stryker Brigade assigned to the 2nd Infantry of the US Army entered Kuwait. They are the last combat unit to leave Iraq. All combat troops have left Iraq after a 7-1/2 year war that cost 4,415 American service members lives, $3 trillion to the American economy, and impacted the lives of the citizens of Iraq.
Starting on September 1, 2010, the United States military will keep 50,000 advisers in place to assist with the post combat transition period. We must not forget that even though combat troops have left the country, it is still very dangerous over there. Even though American military personnel are in an advisory role, they are armed. I am hopeful that we will be out of Iraq by the target date of 31 December 2011.
My hope is that Iraq is able to determine its own fate and become a stable country in an unstable region of the world. Hopefully our advisors will give Iraq the tools they need to succeed on their own.
Regardless of which side you are on (anti-war, pro-war) no one should forget that ALL of our service members assigned to that region did their duty.
And I define ALL of service members as the following: men, women, all skin colors, straight, gay, believer, non-believer, etc.
A way that we can reward them for their service is allowing them ease of access to the necessary treatment to heal both the obvious physical and hidden mental scars that they have earned in combat through better funding and improving navigation of the Veterans Administration. That is not only for the veterans of Iraq, but also the veterans of Afghanistan as our role in that country has seen an increase in the last six months.
Taking care of our veterans who have served this country is not a partisan issue, but an American issue.
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”- Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 4 March 1865
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