The Unseen Costs of War

I understand the need for any nation to defend itself, to protect its borders. I am not opposed to self-defense. I think it is important to support the men and women who volunteer to serve bravely in our national defense, whether or not you believe in the reasons our politicians send us into war. That is one of the reasons I work for the VA.

That being said, I don’t think anyone really can comprehend the full cost of a war. I wish someone would account for the entirety of what it costs us as a nation before we go to war. I wish someone would pick a war, any war, and in retrospect count everything that it had cost us to engage.

And what are the costs of war? Well, there are the obvious; the financial expenditures. The manpower, the training, the equipment, the high tech weaponry, ships, jets, tanks, and so on. Transport is expensive. Feeding and housing the troops requires a large constant cash flow, and who knows how much administrative costs there are to keep track of everything?

How about the costs of international relations? Is America better off globally after a war? Do we cause too many other nations to hate us? Do we cause just the wrong nations to hate us? Or do we gain important allies, gain the trust of the international communities? Do we improve or degrade our potential for international trade, for peaceful relations?

How about the costs of human lives, and how do you measure that? How do you value that? The loss of sons and daughter, mothers and fathers. Brave, strong, smart men and women.

Obviously, what I see that a lot of people don’t is the medical costs of war. Certainly, there are incalculable costs of medical treatment at the battle field and in recovery. But what about the costs of the years and decades of treatment?

Decades of treating diabetes caused by agent orange, leading to amputations and early onset heart disease. Decades of treating PTSD and the loss of that person's productivity. I am still treating WWII vets. That means you and I as taxpayers are still paying for WWII. I studies history, I understand that WWII changed our world, I understand that we had to do it, and I know it was worth it. But I'll bet most people don't consider that we are still paying for it. We are still paying for it as long as VA doctors are seeing WWII vets.

I see millions of dollars of loss in terms of ongoing medical care, and I am only one doctor. It doesn’t take a PhD in sociology to expand from there and see the loss of contribution to society due to serious medical or psychiatric illness as the result of war. A women that might have discovered the cure to cancer, a man that might have been the next Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs. If only.

People who could have contributed to the work force, to education, entertainment, invention. Lost to illness. What of these loss of wages? What of this loss to their family? Loss of stability and confidence. Loss of a strong father to raise his sons, to be an example. Men and women with PTSD who struggle to make human bonds with their families. What is the cost to a family over the decades, and how does this affect our children?

How can anyone count these losses?

I know that sometimes war is necessary. But we need to be in it only when it is. I'm not sure our nation is better off for war. I'm not sure humanity is better off.