Memorial Day Weekend, 2019

Hear from Pfc. Nathan Spencer, a scout with @FightingFirst who shares how the #USArmy has influenced his life.

Video by @FortBenning #WhyIServe #KnowYourMil #ArmyValues pic.twitter.com/yvkHAbFhUK

— U.S. Army (@USArmy) May 23, 2019

This tweet is receiving a heartbreaking thread of replies:

Something tells me they didn't anticipate these responses to this Memorial Day tweet. All of them received sincere sympathetic replies but the pain of these messages is more enduring than words can erase. 

lemme think I didn’t serve but my brother did he never went to war but still shot himself in the head so
he was the sweetest most tender person I’ll ever know and the
USArmy ruined him
oh wait I have another brother who served also without fighting
he’s been fucked up in the head paranoid and violent for forty years ever since and I don’t even know where he is or if he’s still alive and the stories he told FROM STATESIDE
thanks y’all for the likes...I miss these guys with all my heart and soul

My cousin was institutionalized for months after his tours in Iraq. He can't function properly without a shit load of meds daily. The family doesn't allow him to sleep in the house because he is unpredictable. He sleeps in the shed out back. He has a nice Benz though sooo, yay?

My stepbrother served in desert storm. Suffered terrible PTSD and the subsequent alcoholism and addiction issues almost killed him. In the end tho it was the paranoia and nightmares. He always kept a gun under his pillow and accidentally shot himself.

i haven’t served but my baby brother has and is currently getting medically discharged for trying to attempt suicide three times also got married and divorced and has gone into debt because of it but he got to go “see the world” so thanks for literally nothing

One of my best friends came back from Afghanistan with severe PTSD that led to heroin addiction. He kicked that, only to trade it for alcoholism. We graduated HS in 2001. Literally his entire adult life has been dealing with the shit he saw.

My brother in law tried to kill his brother after being tapped on the shoulder due to having a flash back from being in Afghanistan at a kids party...

My buddy was over in Iraq in the 2000’s & he was in the bomb squad. His job was to detect IEDs. He would stomp on them at times because he didn’t care if he lived or died. Luckily he’s still alive
This was his way of checking if it was an IED

The PTSD my aunts uncles and grandpa are experiencing in post their service is unexplainable I’m blessed that most are still here. But the trauma they brought home has affected their spouses children and grandchildren immensely

I enlisted in the Air Force. My life turned out okay. 

Now there is an entitled SOB in the Whit House who will send other people into harms way and not care.

It influences while their in but when they are out they are forgotten . You guys need to fix that. Look at all these comments. Clearly the army is not doing their part.

my friend was promised if he served a certain number of years in the US military that he and his family would be granted citizenship, after serving the time, they told him to get his family he had to serve 3 more years, then after all this, he still could not bring his parents
he now suffers from severe ptsd and lives in america alone without his family, even though he was promised numerous times they could come with him after serving 6+ years active in Afghanistan and Iraq, seeing and experiencing horrifying things

My fave cousin, the one who loved and affirmed me more than anyone in my entire family, has been sitting in a psychiatric unit for the past six months because of the three tours of duty she did to Iraq, Afghanistan and Qatar. You’ll turn this loving woman depressed + suicidal

My father was drafted. Vietnam. He was a machine gunner in the central highlands during the Tet Offensive. He became an alcoholic and an addict. And the health problems he had due to chemical exposure in Vietnam shortened his abusive life. I don’t blame him. I blame you.

The people around me go to the army because they can't afford college. It's like a dystopian reaping where people disappear from daily life because they aren't born fortunate.

i met this guy named christian who served in iraq. he was cool, had his own place with a pole in the living room. always had lit parties. my best friend at the time started dating him so we spent a weekend at his crib. after a party, 6am, he took out his laptop.
he started showing us some pics of his time in the army. pics with a bunch of dudes. smiling, laughing. it was cool. i was drunk and didn’t care. he started showing us pics of some little kids. after a while, his eyes went completely fucking dark. i was like man, dude’s high af.
he very calmly explained to us that all of those kids were dead “but that’s what war was. dead kids and nothing to show for it but a military discount”. christian killed himself 2 months later.

My dad was in the army (dont know the details he doesnt talk about it) and when he came back was a completely different person and had undiagnosed PTSD and almost murdered my mom while she was pregnant with me during a nightmare. (He started strangling her while dead asleep)And he never got treated for his ptsd. Eventually developed a drinking problem. Doesnt have that anymore thanks to my wonderful stepmother but he has a very toxic veiw of mental illness and will never be the same romantic who read my mom poetry and pulled off to the side of the - Side of the road to dance with her because he just had to.

These replies are not edited or selected especially to emphasize the underlying pain they reveal. I copied and pasted them in sequence just as they appeared under the tweet. They say more than anything I can add, but they make me wonder if this social media phenomenon is working out for the best. As a society we seem to be returning to the jungle. In other forums I come across displays of hateful rhetoric from the public making these responses seem mild by comparison. 

A few hours after I posted this I came across another memorable moment among the replies.

Last week, while I was in Phoenix I had a 45-minute conversation with a young man who has served and lost everything upon returning to the US, including his wife and 2 daughters. He has been in the streets for the past 2 years. He was talking to a statue in front of Chase Field (Home of Arizona Diamondbacks).
I was taking pictures of that statue when I noticed him. His first words were "you must think I am crazy". My answer was "no". Lee's biggest fear is to be seen as "weak and crazy" and because of that he struggles to get help. He thanked me for making him feel like a human being.
We laughed and cried during these 45 minutes. We shared a lot. He was grateful to me for seeing him and hearing him. I felt honored to be in his presence and told him so.
>> Thank you for really seeing him Habiba. <<
Thank you for saying that, sis
It really doesn't take much but can mean so much. It was at night, the streets were empty and we found our way to each other because it was written. I will never forget this night and I will never forget him.