Stop Persecuting Bowe Bergdahl - Matthew Hoh - Politico Magazine

Implicit in that reliance is the understanding you will support one another and that, in turn, you will not be abandoned. The core concept of SERE is Return Home with Honor, and again you are holding faithful to the conviction you will not be forgotten. To finish off your training, American commandos rescue you from the prisoner of war camp in a simulated raid. The contract is clear: Never give up, because you will never be forgotten and you will never be left behind. A few years later, I went to war in Iraq. I saw friends die and took part in a process and system of killing that that was justified by a nonexistent, made-up threat to American national security. A foreign country, innocent of any crimes against the United States, was plunged into a barbaric and horrifying civil war, a war that is still slaughtering its citizens. Even with all of the mendacity and madness of the Iraq war, coming home plagued with survivors guilt and moral injury, you still believe in the institutions, you still believe in the ideals and principles that say you will not be forgotten, that your nation owes you a debt and that debt will always be met.