Sometimes I have a fear of going through yellow lights.

Sometimes I squirm when I have to change a friend's 2 year old's diaper.

Sometimes I'm nervous to talk to a pretty woman.

Sometimes I drown in lack of self-confidence to push forward on my dreams.

Sometimes I get uneasy at funerals.

Sometimes I hate to walk in the rain.

Sometimes I'd rather ignore people I'm feuding with than confront them.

Sometimes I fail to recognize that many of my life's simple insecurities are trumped in comparison by the courage of all the men and women who fight for our country. To those of have come home from battlefield and those who have not - thank you for your service.

What makes me the most angry about today's war, is that not one of those men or women deserve to be there! Not one of them should be there! I'm from Australia and to be honest I don't believe any of our troupes should be there at all, they should home with us helping here, with the floods in Queensland and helping rebuild homes lost to bush fires in Victoria where I live. The only reason they got sent over was because of our past president kissing America's past president butt! The whole situatipon makes me very very angry, also makes me question, that had president bush had a son in the army who would have been sent to the front line, would he had given the comarnd to attack?

Hey Ya'll,

I have read your comments and I understand your frustration, no we shouldnt be there but in the same breath yes we should! My son is Sgt. Travis Wood, he will be on Oprah's show thursday. He is just one of thousands of severely injured soldiers in this war, he has endured 84 surgeries in 2 years and by the grace of God who guided the hands of the surgeons he lives. He will tell his story to many and he realizes that his life was spared to do something greater in life. His forgiveness of the Taliban soldier who did this to him is great and he is past it. He is truly a miracle. Now for those who feel we shouldnt be there. As an Army wife I do feel the same way but if you look at it through the eyes of a soldier especially a wounded one I am sure they will feel all of there sacrifice and pain and time away from there family will have been in vein, done for nothing. War has been going on since the beginning of time. Everyone is fighting for what they feel is rightfully theres. It is sad that the world goes through this. But it is what it is and we cant change war. But we can change our feelings towards other human beings of all race, sex, color, creed and disability. We can all do something so grand that some of us are not aware. I am here to tell you that everyone of us can make a difference in other peoples lives. It starts with eye contact and a smile. Acknowledge people you walk past, smile at them, say hello. So many people these days go unnoticed. Just by doing this little things that stranger will remember you all day and you could even brighten that persons day. War begins at home and spreads to others like a disease. You can stop this war with positive gestures to others. Give it a try. I use to be full of anger and rage after my son was injured. Until I actually experienced some stranger smiling at me and looking me in the eye and saying "Have the Best Day Ever", did I understand that I myself was full of war. From that point forward my heart began to unharden to others, I looked at people differently, I realized we are all God's children and we need to treat everyone the same. From the moment I saw that stranger my life changed for the better, my faith in people and in God grew immensely. So what ever higher power you believe in use it for courage to make a difference in someones life today then we will all see the war slow as people come together.

TO ALL THE SOLDIERS WHO HAVE SERVED AND HAVE BEEN INJURED, THANK YOU WHOLE HEARTEDLEY FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE. YOU ARE ALL TRULY HEROES WHO DESERVE TO HAVE THE WORLD HANDED TO YOU. I LOVE YOU ALL AND WISH FOR ALL OF YOU TO STAY STRONG IN SPIRIT AND BODY. GOD BLESS AMERICA

Yes! He would have. You cant say " those men and women dont deserve to be there" They volunteered the second they enlisted into the Armed Forces. It is there job to protect and serve our country and to protect others as well. Remember 911, I do. Terrorist were on our soil and look at the mayhem the caused. Yes if it were Bush Sr. He would have put Bush Jr out there and gave the command to attack. And if Bush Jr. daughters were in the Armed Forces I know those girls would have wanted to be there as well. You cant blame a president for what happened they are only part of the reason. There are many factors that are involved in all of this war. Yes also someone should be helping your country as well cleaning up and rebuilding. I believe it is going on now. Your beautiful country is getting help from many other countries.

May you be blessed with all good things and find peace within. Have a Blessed Day

Armyof13

Oprah,

God Bless you for going to Walter Reed Medicial Hospital. I am an Army prat and come from a long line of service men and women

in our family . My Father was a war world 2 Hero and fought with Patton. He recieved the Purple Heart from Patton . Patton told my Dad Martin Ray Parker if he lived he would put it on my father. . So he did and recivied 11 medels all together. I never knew my father was a hero tell he was older. There are 11 of us chrildren and I am # 8 child. Dad was in the army for 30 some years. My 2 brothers Keith and Walter Parker went to Vietnam. My brother Keith lost his leg and ended in Walter Reed Hospital after he got home after a while .He was touch and go . I was 14 years old and went to see Keith . I learned to tell my brother he could get good looking women with a new leg. But on the very serious side. These men were spit on and called baby killers. I tried to always go to help feed the men with no arms. There were men without arms and legs . At Walter Reed Hospital it was packed there was as much as 5 in a small room. If we the family did not come I don't know how any of these men would get a drink of water and eating . Thoes without arms had a real hard time . There would be at least two in the room without arms. And thoes without a leg or two was hard for them. Walter Reed was packed and the thing that happen to some of the men the hospital could not keep up with the men and some things I can not write about for I would worrie about what the Goverment would do. That is why I went into medicine. I am 57 years old and never forget to help our vets . The familes go through so much when they are fighting in the fild . We always got nots in our stomach wondering if our brother were ever coming back . Alot of our friends did not come back. Andd the rest is history. Our troop still need help . We are having war heros who protected our rights and freedoms . GOD BLESS YOU OPRAH .

Margaret Surgeon

To the production staff:

Your show would be significantly enhanced by the presence of Rose Mologne, a volunteer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for almost 50 years, the widow of one of the former Commanding Officers, and the best expression of the wonderful relationship between our local community and WRAMC.

Your show would also be greatly ehanced by a focus on the personal care givers ("non-medical attendants"), i.e., families of the wounded warriors who accompany them at the Mologne House and the Fisher Houses on the WRAMC campus.

There's a lot more to WRAMC than the hospital, the great heroes who deserve the primary focus of your attention, and the staff who have done and are doing wonders in medicine and rehabilitation.

Hope you have a great show at Walter Reed.

Denis27

Thank you for reporting this story. I pray the "Oprah Effect" takes place and brings comfort to our warriors and their families. Please pray and give thanks to our brave heroes past, present and future.

Semper Fi

Dear Oprah, In a life filled with life-altering experiences, IF you got to see the REAL Walter Reed, this will rank among the top. I was there for 6 weeks with my daughter & son-in-law who was in the highest-care level of intensive care for most of 6 months. As I wandered lost most of the time in that maze of corridors, I saw the unimaginable state that a human body can endure and still survive. While most of the hospital was as deficient as a "regular" hospital can be, the care in that ward given by the specialized nurses was phenomenal.

We stayed, gratefully, but with much hardship, at the Mologne House. We would walk the quarter mile(?--probably not that long, unless I add in all that time I spent lost) through numbing cold, snow, and ice, but that physical discomfort was nothing in comparison to the numbness I know my daughter was feeling every moment in her broken heart. Every time I go back to those days, my first memory is that walk to the hospital, the step-by-step trek feeling like a walk to the gallows, because at the end of that walk we were confronted with another horror, other miseries, tubes, blood, broken and partial bodies of those whose prior lives had ended, with either death or life.

My children's journey began,as it does for I think all OIF soldiers, at Landstuhl, and they flew to WR with My son-in-law's entire abdomen open, with a body swollen to an estimated 100 pounds of fluid and total organ failure. His subsequent severe brain damage led to 2 years of my daughter's caring for his every need at WR and then at VA nursing home (a whole other picture there!). The one beautiful effect of all this was the bond we formed other grieving loved ones who waited with us for days and days, in those horrible waiting rooms where the always tuned to FOX TV constantly sang the praises of a failed President and his illegal war. ONLY these people understood the trauma we lived; only they would understand the death of so many dreams encapsulated in every bed; the return to "civilian life" for me, was surreal--and NO ONE else understood. Most didn't even WANT to understand. Those whose loved one died, returned home to an emptiness no one should endure. For the rest of us, a constant, ongoing struggle every day to deal with the neverending challenges of brain damage, of limbs gone, of scars both physical and emotional, that will never heal.

Thank you, thank you, for doing what I know will be a beautifully-told story of the terrible aftermath of a completely unnecessary war.

I would like permission to repost your letter to the thousands of supporters through Operation Ward 57. As the wife of an injured soldier and caregiver to the amputee Ward I know first hand the intimate inadequacies of Walter Reed and this broken system. Your eloquent description has touched me. Much love and prayers to you and your family.

-Deborah Semer

Founder

Operation Ward 57

I am posting this comment even before watching the show. My 19 year old son joined the USMC last June and is presently stationed at Camp Pendleton, Ca. We are now waiting to find out when he will be deployed to Afghanistan. As a person who is totally against this or any other war, it was very difficult for me to accept the decision that my son made to join the Marine Corp. After trying for many months to talk him out of his decision, my husband and I finally decided the best choice was to support him. Now we have come to the point where my worst fears are being realized. My precious son, who is so loving, kind and friendly; who is so creative and talented; who has so much to offer the world, will be going half way around the world to fight and I honestly don't know what he'll be fighting for. May be this seems unpatriotic, but does killing more people really solve anything? Haven't enough young men, women and children died yet? Haven't enough lives been destroyed. I really don't think that my son fully comprehends what he has gotten himself into. He sees it as an adventure. I know that no matter what happens to him while he's there, even if he comes back without a scratch, that the experience will change him forever. My prayer is that it will change him in a good way. That he will become a warrior for Peace instead of violence. I pray and meditate every day for my son and all the other sons and daughters who are doing what they feel is the right thing to do by fighting in the war, even though I feel it is miss guided. I pray for the people in the Middle East, Africa and all over the world, that we will one day see the truth that we are all living on this beautiful planet earth together and that if we don' t stop fighting, soon we will no longer have anything left to fight for. I'm not sure if I will be able to watch the show tomorrow,(I start crying just watching the commercials) but my heart goes out to all of those soldiers and their families. I hope you will all join me in visuallizing world peace

It is hard for me to understand why the U.S. is trying to change the mentality of the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan. These countries have been in existance for thousands of years, ours just a few hundred. If we must have war going lets do it for the right reason, capture Osama bin Laden and his followers. I pray that our leaders will be successful in this endeavor because too many young lives are being negatively affected.I can tell this to the mothers who have lost a child or has one in the war...If your child dies it was for a very worthwhile cause...mine died at the hands of a drunk driver in our very country in our very streets. God was gracious to me he let my son die a hero as well. He was helping a drunk and the other drunk hit him at 60 MPH. So be proud of your babies.

Dear Armyof13,

Thank you for your comments. Thanks to your son for his service. Your thoughts echo mine. I don't think I could of said what you did as well! I am so proud to be a retired Army soldier in that it is about selfless service to country. My greatest wish is that as a global planet we could learn to live with each other with respect and value.

Please thank your son for me and from a grateful nation. As a military family, thank you for your support and sacrifices. God Bless!

Dear Peepsman23,

I have read some of your other blog statements and find I rather agree with you but it is with great joy that I can say that the comments you made in this blog have touched me deeply and I thank you so much. I too thank all those who wear a uniform and give so selflessly. God speed!

Dear bethwentzl,

I want to say thank you for your comments and most importantly thank your son for his service. I know tomorrow's show will have me bawling! Yet, I will watch it because it is so important for this country to understand the sacrifices our service members make and the cost of war. I will pray for your son and for you and your family. God bless.