To all the boys and girls

Who listened to a recruiters lies

And signed on the dotted line.

To my best friend, sleeping in 

Closets, standing up, at night,

Waking with terrifying screams.

To the men and women raped

For not being who they are

Because they may not be who they are.

To those who were hazed.

To the victims of trigger happy gunners.

To the humans ridiculed and dehumanized

At Abu Ghraib.

To the homeless men and women, 

Who for their service, 

Didn't receive honor and glory and GI benefits, 

But alcoholism, mental illness, and a society

That can't possibly understand the 

Memories they can't get past.  

To every precious soul

Used up, destroyed, demented, and left to die.

To those forced to reckon with every day, 

The things they were forced to do, 

The things they had to watch. 

To those who naively believed 

It was in the name of freedom.

To those who saw a chance for personal hope, 

To climb out of a life they knew,

Only to find more pain and destruction in the lies.

To those who know the lies, 

And the truth, 

And are obligated to propagate the former.

To those who search endlessly within themselves,

To find honor in dishonorable actions.  

To those who lie awake at night.

To those whose wives and children leave, 

Because they don't know how to handle it all.

To the wives and husbands,

Waiting for phone calls, 

Or video chats, or a letter in the mail.

To those with folded flags on the mantle. 

To those with no legs or missing fingers or eyes.

To those who spilled their blood all over foreign grounds.

Was it worth the price?