I did not have a home-coming.
For all intents and purposes I’m still there….
I never left.
I was cheated of the complete combat experience…
I lived.
I was not even wounded.
I am sick of being called a hero.
I’m no hero.
I made it home.
I feel that I failed those who did not make it.
How can someone love another person if that person does not talk?
Who is silent
Yet once he talks.
How can he be loved?
Once others know what he did and witnessed?
Destroy us
Or make us saints.
How can one find meaning in a world?
Or scenario that has no meaning?
I’m not a survivor
I’m just surviving
Or rather just existing.
On rage and alcohol.
Jason Burdick joined the US Army in 1996 and served over 11 years as combat medic. He was stationed at Ft Sill, OK. Ft Bliss, TX. South Korea, Ft Campbell, KY. New Hampshire Army National Guard, California Army National Guard. In 2004 he was deployed to Southern Baghdad, Iraq for an 18 month combat deployment. Currently he is finishing his B.A. in History at UCLA. Upon graduation, he intends to pursue a career in education.