Originally Posted By: bluage
"guitarhacker", and Mr. Snyder...

"Whiskey For Breakfast" is a call for confronting squarely a societal problem that hasn't been solved , and a raw and messy one, at that, concerning those who have "fallen" by their own hand. It could be subtitled, "Don't Look The Other Way".

About a year ago, I read an autobiography titled, "Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of A Marine". It was written by Tyler E. Boudreau, a veteran of the Marine Corps Infantry who after twelve years of service in Iraq and elsewhere, left the force and wrote his story. Ten pages from the end of its two-hundred and twenty-three page length, he revealed to me the thing, the heart, the center, the core out of which the phrase "war is hell" is exposed and explained:

"Combat stress is close to my heart. I'm emotionally invested, so I tend to get rankled in discussions about recovery. I get rankled by all the apparent confusion. 'What do you think all this rage is about?' I ask. 'Where do you think the stress comes from?' It doesn't come from the blistering hot days on the parade deck, or the long deployments away from home, or the tough training, or eating too many MRE's. It comes from trauma. It comes from witnessing, and participating in, extreme violence..."

"Violence will always be bad for the soul", he wrote a few pages later. 'Nuff said.

You have got to get this "out there", pronto, gentlemen. There'll be a lot of awkward silence and nervous throat-clearing, a lot of eyes not meeting the gaze of another's eyes, wherever and in whatever space the listeners of your song may occupy, but I believe that's what you would want, what you wrote it for.

Pete, Woody, Dylan, Joan, and others who walked down this path in their songs would encourage you to do the same thing, I'm sure.

LOREN




Loren, you nailed it on this tune. I don't think this originally started to be a song about this topic, but it kinda turned out that way.

It's a crying shame how badly we treat the patriots who were willing to serve their country while at the same time we give all sort of benefits to those who are here illegally and from countries that hate this country... it's just wrong. Our sons and daughters should ALWAYS come first and get the best care whether it's physical or mental.

As I mentioned previously, I know some vets and their families who have been personally touched by the suicide of a returning war veteran. And trust me when I say it's not just the men who are committing suicide. The one I knew the best, and personally as a little girl who used to go camping with us. Something Shannon saw or was involved in was just too much to deal with and she took her own life with a pistol.

Yes, this issue is long overdue to be addressed.

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