Bethesda Naval Hospital, just north of Washington, D.C. / DoD photo
President Obama is visiting Bethesda Naval Hospital Wednesday afternoon, and that’ll get some coverage in Thursday’s papers. But today, on page 1 of the Metro section of the Washington Post, is the kind of story that too often goes untold. It’s a simple article about how nine women — who have spent months caring for their husbands at the same hospital the President is visiting today — were treated to a visit to a local spa to salve their own souls.
“We do a lot of times get overlooked,” one 24-year-old wife, whose Marine husband lost his left leg, told the paper. “I haven’t had to personally deal with the amputation…haven’t had to deal with the pain. But you go through a different kind of pain…You go through emotional. You go through mental. It’s very exhausting.”
War’s wreckage is a lot like an iceberg. Soldiers are the tip that pokes above the surface. Down below is the bulk of war’s damage, done to the families and friends of those who have served. For every soldier killed or wounded, dozens are left behind to tend to memories, or mangled minds and bodies. So it’s nice that these women got their facials and manicures, nice that the Post wrote it up, and nice that you cared enough to read this far. Feel free to help out, too.