Soldiers sacrifice more, complain less

A tally kept by CNN reported that 66 American soldiers have died this August, making it the deadliest month for troops since the beginning of the war almost a decade ago.

August also brought on the deadliest attack of the war, when 30 soldiers were killed when insurgents shot down their Chinook transport helicopter on Aug. 6 in the eastern central province of Wardak, Afghanistan.

Whether you support the war or not, you have to give thanks for the men and women who risk their lives every day to make sure we can continue to live ours in any way that we choose.

The average age of a first-time army recruit for the past 10 years has ranged from 20 to 22, according to the Army’s website.

That means when many of us were entering our junior year at UH, these men and women were enlisting and going overseas — and their sacrifices don’t end there.

According to an article written by the Associated Press, one in eight soldiers returns to the US with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

This often means they relive their experiences in Iraq or Afghanistan over and over again and have a hard time reintegrating into normal life.

The return to school has ushered in a myriad of complaints from the student body, but how well would we cope with the conditions in the military?

We complain about waking up early for class, when they’ve been on the battlefield all night.

We complain about traffic and construction while we drive in our air-conditioned cars and listen to the radio.

We are doing this when, at the same time, young soldiers are trekking across the Middle East listening to gunfire.

We complain about homework, Peoplesoft, the administration and tuition; while men and women our age, some even younger, are putting their lives on the line knowing full well that they may never be properly thanked for it.

Kind of puts the whole parking situation into perspective, eh?