Afghanistan and Texas and Two Sons

I meet a lot of people in my line of work. I always say that behind every door there is a story. A man came in with a dental problem. During the course of the visit we covered a lot of ground. I asked about his son who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Texas. The missionary is assigned to work with Spanish speaking people. The area he is in has an LDS ward. Virtually the entire membership including the local leadership (the ward Bishop and other leaders) are in the United States illegally. We had quite a discussion on that, coming to common ground that the border needs to be secured first. His position was that the illegals here, contributing and living their lives should not be deported back to Mexico. I have to agree with that because I don't know how it could be done, and many have fled Mexico to get away from the drug wars while looking for a better life. I added the caveat that anyone here illegally who has been arrested and convicted of a crime must be deported and not allowed back. He understood that and agreed with it.

We then turned to his other son. He is an Army vet, Ranger qualified and served in Afghanistan. While on patrol one of his team stepped on and IED. The resulting explosion took the right arm off of this man's son. He has endured about 20 surgeries to develop some muscle to attach a prosthesis. He has had muscle transplanted from the latissimus dorsi to just below his shoulder. He is in pain that barely diminishes even with the continual use of oxycontin which he has become physiologically and psychologically dependent on.

He talked of the ridiculous rules of engagement our Armed Forces are being forced to follow. They are limited when and how they can use force, thus placing them in more jeopardy. He wondered what our mission was there. If it was to get Bin Laden, well, we're done he explained and we need to bring everyone home. He said he asked one of our US Senators that question at a Town Hall meeting. The Senator said the mission was to keep Afghanistan as stable as possible so Pakistan does not fall with their nuclear arsenal. I listened mostly. But I did say that people either live in Liberty, Tyrany or Chaos. That is the cultural and governmental state of countries. The people in Afghanistan have mostly existed for centuries in Chaos. When looking at these countries as a whole they are use to Tyranny or Chaos, they cannot morph into a culture of Liberty. It just is not possible. I could see the moisture building up in this father's eyes as he talked of his sons. He had hope and happiness while taking of the boy in Texas, but was desperate talking of his son who had been to Afghanistan.

I have a nephew who leaves this Saturday to prepare to go over for his 2nd tour in Afghanistan, having also served a tour in Iraq.