Sam Stone: A Haunting Tale of Foreign Wars and Domestic Devastation
A classic song by one of America's treasured storytellers
America is close to being at war again.
The war machine is always hiding in the shadows somewhere. But with the high visibility conflicts in Ukraine and beyond Gaza boiling over, the flags are once again readied for full display.
Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan on pattern repeat.
In regard to war, it seems like the United States never learns it’s lesson. But in reality, it’s not a lesson, it’s a business plan.
The American people not only pay taxes for these foreign adventures, they pay the price with every dead son or daughter lying on the battlefield, every soldier coming home with PTSD and every hero trying to reclaim a life with missing body parts and mental depression.
Wave those flags, fly those jets and take pride in another senseless parade of propaganda.
The Immortality of Sam Stone
There are only a handful of songs in life that can reach into your gut and grab your soul every time you hear it.
Sam Stone is one of those songs.
Released back in 1971 on his debut album, John Prine encapsulated an entire generation of war and waste in this single, signature song.
It is a harrowing song, told in narration of a young veteran returning home with a Purple Heart and “a little shrapnel in his knees.” Oh, and a drug-addiction.
Like many veterans, life back in the U.S.A. was not an easy transition:
Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime
Today, the military still suffers from the drug problems rampant during the Vietnam War era. But it’s an even worse scenario now.
Fentanyl is killing enlisted men every day. The U.S. opioid epidemic is the enemy.
Trauma is not restricted to just war zones. Living in America is just another battleground.
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
There was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the GI bill
For a flag-draped casket on a local hero's hill
Sam Stone is still here. He lives in urban tents, underneath bridges, on farms and in crumbling cities.
Coda
In truth, we don’t really know too much about Sam Stone.
He is just another forgettable face sacrificed for the spoils of war. There are countless others, on the margins of capitalism, to take his place.
In the song’s chorus, Prine sums up the sentiment of the situation:
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose
There’s a hole in American society too.
Money begets money. America’s reliance on a war economy requires a compliant Congress and a patriotic public, the latter manipulated for their goodwill.
The national defense spending budget fuels the never-ending bloodlust to extract resources abroad and human capital at home.
War offers an opportunity to disrupt societies to gain territory and control. The human cost is inconsequential, whether by proxy or enlistment.
Maybe Sam Stone will stay home next time and take care of himself.
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