Q: Okay, so they just announced the war is officially over. What happens now?

A: Now, I get to raise a toast to those we lost and welcome those who made it back from the sandbox.

It's sad to think that when I was deployed in 2003, many of the guys who are now returning from war were only ten or eleven years old. The war in Iraq has gone on since March 19th, 2003. I was on a field training exercise in Ft. Knox, KY when the drill sergeants announced it to us. A short few months later, I was in Iraq.

Since I have been back, I've paid close attention to many of the issues revolving around our involvement in Iraq. One of the issues that I pay particular attention to is the issue of suicide among veterans. Folks, it's real. Over the next few decades, it's about to get a lot more real. Pay close attention to the ones you love and be there for them.

Logistically speaking, now that the war is over, I'm sure they will probably find some other conflict to absorb our finances. Since WWII, there has not been a single President who has not overseen a war/occupation/peacekeeping mission/or whatever you wish to call the engagement. President Eisenhower warned us before he left office in 1960 about the military industrial complex having too much power and say-so in our foreign policy. As a result of not listening to one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen, we are now held hostage by an entire industry based solely on creating weapons for wars either real or imagined.

The defense industry has become so large that were it to shut down tomorrow, our country would fall into an economic depression that would make the 1930's seem like "the good ol' days." So much of our economy - not to mention, our debt - relies so heavily on defense spending that it seems unfathomable for us to not be engaged in some kind of armed conflict.

Anyway, the war in Afghanistan is still going. Rumor is they'll be ending that this coming summer. Only time will tell. If I had a nickel for every timeline the Iraq war was supposed to end and didn't, I'd be able to finance my own run for the Presidency.

Until then, every time they come home from war, I'll be welcoming them. Every time they deploy, I'll be supporting them with more than just some stupid bumper sticker.

Until they all come home,
Tyler J.