For many these struggles seem to
continue and intensify as the years
pass. As the reality of war takes its toll
on their bodies it also kidnaps their
minds. Bit by bit the trauma eats away
their hope, dreams and finally the light
in their eyes. As they pass their final
days in centers where the angels of
this world take care of their every
need, their battles live on. Battles with
themselves, their demons, their
decaying bodies and their loved ones
who visit them, encourage them and
try to make life better for them.
And often, this reality is the true
social cost of conflict – men and
women who finish their lives on earth
in places some of them have no idea
where it is or what they are doing
there. People who have survived the
wars but who are getting killed by the
battles they face upon their return.
* Elanie Styne is Professor of
Journalism at the Gaylord College of
Journalism and Mass Communication,
University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
14
One element of the social cost of
conflict is when the thousands of
soldiers who fight and have fought in
these wars, and who have been
fortunate to survive, return “home.”
They leave the battlefield behind to
return to a life of “peace” and
“normalcy.” However, many of them
leave behind parts of themselves, their
futures and their aspirations in the war
zones they return from. And as they
integrate into life away from war, the
real battles start for many of them.
Battles for jobs, a place to stay, a
connection with the people they once
knew, an escape from the realities
they faced while being deployed.
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achieve. Moreover, it strips them of their
people. It is estimated that 11 million
people were killed during the Holocaust –
about six million of them were Jews.
During the ongoing struggle between
Israelis and Palestinians it is estimated
that almost 7,000 Palestinians and more
than 1,000 Israelis have been killed since
2000. Similarly, the prolonged civil war
and ethnic and political violence in Sudan
since the 1980s have left an estimated
1.8 million Sudanese internally displaced.
And when six American troops died in a
military helicopter crash in Southern
Afghanistan toward the end of 2013, it
brought the number of U.S. troops to
have been killed in the U.S. mission in
Afghanistan to 129. Over the 12-year
stretch of this war, more than 2,000
soldiers have lost their lives. And this is
but one example of the many battles U.S.
soldiers have battled over the course of
history.