"Let There Be Light"

Suppressed by the Pentagon until 1980, this 1946 John Huston documentary tells the story of the psychiatric and emotional devastation that war – any war, even a Good War – wreaks on the men and women who are called upon to shoulder the burden and put their own flesh between our nation and harm.

It's quite long -- almost an hour -- and I’m pretty sure I’m violating some Google protocol by embedding it in the flash player code so that it can be seen this way.

Nonetheless I could not think of anything more appropriate to mark this Veteran's Day than Huston’s deft and remarkable handling of the subject from over 60 years ago as a reminder of the price beyond blood and bone we exact from our Citizen-Soldiers in every war.

And why for any real American, "supporting the troops" must always mean demanding from our leaders every single time they see fit to begin rattling the sabers from the safety of their well-protected, air-conditioned offices, clear, honest, and painful answers as to why exactly their latest Most Important War Ever is worth the cost in lives, treasure, and the ongoing terror it inevitably inflicts on our wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters.