Frank Buckles died at 110. He was the last veteran of World War I and, if I'm not mistaken, this includes all our allies and the Central Powers of Germany, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
I mention him because history casts a long shadow. This is a man who fought against Kaiser Wilhelm. He was in his 40's when World War II broke out. In his 60's when the United States landed on the moon. Here's a man who could have tweeted or made a facebook posting about life in the trenches. That's pretty cool.
He was also the last World War I veteran that the United States is paying benefits for. That means that not only do we need to account for the billions of dollars that the war in Iraq is costing us now, but we need to account for the billions more in benefits that we will be paying to our veterans for the next 90 years. The policy decisions we make now will impact generations.
The good news is that people are living even longer. That means that we need to be even more aware of the long-term impacts of our policies. Our Iraqi vets may still be kicking around in 2150. And we will still have a responsibility to take care of them.
As the old saying goes, with great powers comes great responsibilities.
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