And the stains coming from my blood tell me to go back home

I heard a rumor that one of my old friends is getting a divorce. I haven't asked him about it because it's probably not something he wants to talk about and have to explain over and over again. I know I hated explaining it to people when I went through mine. If it is true I feel bad for him because he hadn't been married very long when he got sent to Iraq for a second time and had to spend a year away from his new bride.

Having been divorced, I know that it's something that scars you for life, but at least I know that mine came about from mistakes that my ex-wife and I made without an extra boost from our government. It will affect every single relationship I have from here on out, whether I like it or not, as I'm sure it does for everyone who has gone through it.

So whether this rumor about my friend is true or not, it made me think of all the sacrifices that the men and women in our military have to make on our behalf. It's not just the time they spend overseas, or the fact that they're putting their lives on the line fighting for their country, there are things they will carry with them for their entire lives. Whether those things be war wounds (even as severe as lost limbs or nerve damage), emotional trauma from things they've seen and been forced to do (seeing someone die or being put in a position where you have to take someone else's life can not be an easy thing to deal with), or just coming home to a world that has moved on in their absence, many of our service men and women never recover fully. The sad thing is that many of these sacrifices go unrecognized and unappreciated by civilians in this country.

What ever happened to the time of war heroes?