Remember My Forgotten Man?

"Remember my forgotten man? You put a rifle in his hand.

You sent him on his way, you shouted "hip hooray!", but look at him today....."- Joan Blondell, Gold Diggers of 1933.  

The song was set in a time when life was poor and soldiers were just faces, is it still true for the men and women who give up their time ans lives in the 21st century?  

As i watched the movie Gold Diggers of 1933, with all of its comedy and romance, it was the finale of the movie that grabbed my attention so much that I watched it multiple times;

The character played by Joan Blondell walks the streets in a pencil skirt torn to pieces at the end and gives her lit cigarette to the poor man who scoured the ground for a already lit one that a man just tossed over his shoulder.  The finale goes on as extravagant and strong as any movie musical done by Busby Berkeley.  This scene ran through my head over and over and my mind would repeat; 'remember my forgotten man?'

My brother is an army soldier of the 101st airborne and is currently stationed over seas, and he with many others, are the forgotten men.  Maybe not to the wives and mothers who lie in their beds wide awake in the morning, hoping to hear their phone ring or the husband and fathers who proudly show off their child and talk highly of their dedication.  It is the higher power that I believe have truly forgotten these men and women who would rather sit by a bon fire with their near and dear friends and family rather than in a desert that is dry and vacant.  It seems that the men and women who are dedicated to fighting are the ones who get the bad deal and it does not sit well for many, especially for someone who had walked along side a soldier.  

On YouTube, a father of a soldier posted the conditions of North Carolina's Fort Bragg.  Pictures that makes a fraternity look like a 5-start hotel.  The father expressed his anger that the conditions and was quoted by CNN, " This is embarrassing ,  it;s disgusting, and it makes me mad as hell."  After the publicity of the conditions on YouTube, the fort is now receiving the attention needed to improve the living conditions of army troops.  This is only one of the fort, but what about the others?  For Ed Frawley, he was not pleased with the lack of comfort and lack of hygiene that is son had to come back to after being stationed in Afghanistan for over a year.