It has been a very insightful week for me. I feel that my senses and my thoughts are more profound than before; life has a different meaning to me now. Changes—although somewhat daunting for some—are refreshing to me. I enjoy identifying weaknesses and things that limit my development. I always look at ways of reinventing myself, my life and discarding everything that is toxic and obstructive. With that being said, this deployment is helping define who I am, what I want and—most importantly—that I do not have to be intimidated about expressing my opinion; whoever is going to like or love me will do without me trying to accommodate my life into theirs.
All this soul searching has led me to think of my upbringing and the lessons I have learned over the past 34 years of life here on “my” world. Simultaneously, I think of “My Dear Island” and the way in which they are struggling to support a country that grants them citizenship, financial benefits while their vote holds no weight in Washington DC. Trace sent me an article that sums up the hazy duality of the Island’s perspective towards the war. As in the US—where the issue of the war has made many moderates side with the Democrats—in Puerto Rico, the war is making many of its public side with the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). The tiresome lack of progress, refusal to establish timelines and the increased amount of dead soldiers fighting for a war that continues to blur the reasoning of a people who have shown patriotism and loyalty to the US in previous conflicts is taking its toll in Puerto Rico.
The Pentagon has released the names of 37 Puerto Rican hostile deaths –three of which were females—in both Afghanistan and Iraq; these do not include the number of non-hostile deaths. I tried insatiably to find the numbers myself but my efforts were fruitless. I only discovered that there were 652 non-hostile deaths reported to the US including the number of Puerto Ricans as well—as they did when reporting the number of female fatalities. I learned that there have been 178 wounded Puerto Ricans—as reported by the Pentagon—although the numbers are being challenged due to the common practice of including the numbers with those of the US. Some also argue about the relevance of first generation Puerto Ricans living in the US or ones that have simply moved here, resolved to join the military and then lost their lives. The argument infers the reported number of deaths for Puerto Ricans should be higher.
While researching information for this post, I ran into an interesting article about the first Army nurse to die since Vietnam. What made it interesting is that CPT Maria I. Ortiz was Puerto Rican; she was born in New Jersey but her parents moved back to Puerto Rico where in 1991 she enlisted the US Army Reserve—I guess she grants validity to the argument previously discussed. Her story was very familiar—going active duty in 1993, being commissioned in 1999—which ingnited a spark of curiosity about exactly how publicized was the first death of an Army nurse since Vietnam. I found one article in the Washington Post and the rest were blog spaces and less read news sources like: Intel Dump, Patriot Guard Riders, Journal-News, MEDCOM Now, State of New Jersey website, Nurse POV, Outside the Beltway, Heroes Memorial, A commanders blog from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Mail Call! Supporting the Troops, A Soldier’s Perspective, and Military.com. There was no mention of her in the New York Times, or other major news providers.
During my quest to find out if anybody noticed what I have, I found an article that relieved some of the disenchantment I was experiencing at the time. The article tells the story of a—near nine month old—baby girl who was found in a mound of trash named Fatima and who is under the care of CPT Ortiz co-workers. Of course, a military newspaper, distributed to military personnel— and contractors—that are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan wrote it. Despite the fact that the real world—still— do not seem to hear or care about these events, I am—still—adamant to reveal the little stories to as many people as I can.
At the end, “my people” are protesting the war—disapproval rate of around 75%--as the mainland concurrently protest it. Still, there are many, MANY, that volunteer to serve in a war they may not approve of but they recognize the need to fulfill their duties. They give everything they can give and their efforts provoke waves of un-selfish acts inspired by the very person that worked to make a difference in a world of constant disappointment. While we hear about how many Puerto Ricans are opting out of US military life, we seldom hear about the ones that gave it all and paid the ultimate price for a country where they DO NOT have a vote for the type of government that will rule them or a say on the wars they will fight.
