John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Rocker in his Concord home: Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.

During the last few weeks, local news media has been publishing the names and aspirations of graduating high school seniors. Many of the students have been accepted to study at colleges and universities. Others are looking forward to beginning full-time jobs and careers. And then there are students who are planning to join the military.

For some, the military is a family tradition. Some are motivated by a sense of patriotism. For others, the military is perceived as the only way to secure personal financial success. I find it sad that many of these young people, with their youthful sense of invulnerability, have little awareness of the potential toll on their lives, their families, and their friends — the human cost of war.

My sadness introduces a bit of pathos into the approaching annual celebration of the July 4, 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence. The declaration foreshadows the human cost of war. Back in school, these graduating students may have memorized the section of the Declaration beginning, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

The following paragraph reads, “to institute new Government… organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness… Under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

With this last sentence, the human cost of war will accrue into the debt of the country.

There’s the rub and the source of irony and anguish. Our nation’s “safety and happiness” were expected to be accomplished with war against Britain. Ever since, the lesson has been to maintain safety and happiness by risking the wages of war. Today, war thrusts many into harm’s way, either through the direct action of war or from the repercussions of war.

Too many are suffering as a result of the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and the Philippines; as well as U.S. government counterterrorism activities in 85 countries.

It is a time to mourn the loss of safety and happiness being sacrificed for the risks and distress in the human costs of war. Norman Solomon writes in his book, “War Made Invisible,” “When American armed forces are inflicting carnage (it is important to acknowledge) the ecological toll, the social havoc, the anguish and trauma, the pain of physical agony and intimate grief” among the military and civilians.

Brown University’s Costs of War Project outlines the human toll in the two decades of the “war on terror.” At least 929,000 people have died due to direct violence on all sides; 7,050 U.S. soldiers have died; approximately 8,000 U.S. contractors have been killed; 38 million people have been displaced. It is time to mourn these deaths and displacements.

The human consequences in the war zone also include destruction of homes, infrastructure, loss of food sources, a strain on medical care, dehumanization of the enemy, and physical and cognitive injuries. Back home, war causes many consequences for the people. War risks our young people. Society could take young adults out of war, but after being in the military and taught the use of overwhelming power, it is difficult to take war out of adults.

War burdens the powerless. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez writes, “it is the vulnerable, the poor, and working people – who had little to no say in conflict – who pay the price.” War puts stress on families. Relationships between families and returning veterans are often damaged. 91% of combat veterans with PTSD reported being psychologically aggressive with their intimate partner in the previous year.

War alienates veterans from society. It’s difficult for veterans to return to democratic principles after living in the hierarchical system of the military. War sets the stage for mass killings. Hugh Gusterson, professor of anthropology and international affairs at George Washington University, wrote, “more than a third of adult perpetrators of the forty-three worst mass killings since 1984 had been in the United States military… It is clear military service is an important risk factor.”

Veterans learn that violence can be the favored instrument of change. NPR news reported, that “military veterans were overrepresented in those charged in the January 6 capitol riot.” Out of eleven indicted organizers of Oath Keepers, five were military veterans. Four out of five indicted Proud Boys were veterans. Finally, war mutilates people. There have been more than 450,000 service members diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury, from 2000 – 2021, often leading to long-term complications or death.

It’s time to grieve for all who suffer the human costs of war. It’s time to grieve for the loss of safety and happiness for many people. It’s time to let our grief demand a better way. It’s time to demand that leaders stop inflicting the human cost of war upon its citizens.

Let Independence Day be a time to not only celebrate the birth of a democratic nation, but to also be a time to mourn the loss of a way of life we fought to save. Let the grieving be a time of closure that will lead to an independence from the human costs of war and a new day of safety and the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let that be a gift to our graduating high school seniors.

]]>