Thanks to our old buddy, Rock for sending this important video to us. If you can watch this and not be affected, you are heartless and don’t appreciate what these veterans have sacrificed for us – I’ve got no use for you.
This video reminds us of a serious problem that is ongoing, but we’re only infrequently exposed to the unpleasant visuals – images that illustrate the problems that really exist, the unacceptable treatment of our veterans.
It is a national disgrace that we expect our young men and women to voluntarily expose themselves to injury and death to keep America free and yet many separate from the military and for whatever reason, don’t get the help they desperately need to acclimate back into civilian life.
And yet, almost every day I read about some benevolent do-gooders who are fighting for the “plight” of illegal aliens. Some are trying to get illegals free tuition at some colleges; others are lobbying for housing assistance and other benefits – for those who entered the U.S. illegally.
It appears that we have allowed illegal aliens to occupy most of our national consciousness while ignoring the treatment of our returning veterans.
How on earth can some people feel so much empathy for people who enter the U.S. illegally while at the same time, completely ignore our own young people; citizens who have volunteered to go into harm’s way on our behalf?
They aren’t getting the medical help they need. Our VA programs are failing them. Some return home missing limbs, some suffer from psychological problems, and others just need some temporary financial assistance to get back on their feet. And what are we doing?
Precious damned little.
President Trump made a number of pledges relating to veterans during his campaign. We need to make sure that he honors those pledges. After years of cuts to the defense budget, he’s proposing to increase spending on our military. Part of that commitment to improving our military preparedness should be to commit to taking care of those who have sacrificed so much to protect us.
Let’s all try to keep this subject front and center. It’s important that we honor our commitment to help those who have given up so much to defend our freedom. We owe them that – and so much more.
Garnet92.
Categories: General
Pesky Truth 
That’s a really hard-hitting video, and the list of organizations that can help is so long you’d think more veterans could find the help they need and get off the streets.
The thing I don’t understand is why PTSD is so widespread. Did WWII veterans suffer from it too, and we just didn’t know what it was?
We need to re-vamp the VA so they have better ways of addressing PTSD instead of simply handing out mind-altering drugs. That doesn’t fix the problem, it just creates drug addicts.
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Yea, the WW2 generation did have it, but the mindset was to just keep going through life.
Not all PTSD is combat related. My wife has it from being stationed in her hometown and seeing the devastation from Katrina
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Some VA installations are attacking it through psychiatric care and group therapy
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I think that the problem, in a nutshell, is that we, as a united country, have never committed to spending whatever it takes to follow each troubled vet and provide help throughout his/her successful transition to civilian life.
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Yes Kathy folks of all wars suffered it. You never heard of it. WW2 it was battle Fatigue or combat stress reaction or shell shock.
I am a veteran and to get the medical benefits and disability benefits are unreal people may go ten or twenty years to be able to get disability benefits for the slightest reasons ( must be service connected i.e. Your issue started while on active duty)
It took me 8 years to get where I’m at now and I’m still working on other issues.you fight and fight and fight
Then we won’t talk about waiting lists, poor health care and so on
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I wish someone would explain to me why this is happening, because we can’t fix it unless we understand it. I know from personal experience and from the shows I see on TV that there are many veterans who are able to translate the experience and skills acquired in the military into decent jobs here at home. My nephew who was in the marines for about 2 years where he worked as a guard in Iraq, for instance, came back and almost immediately was able to get a job with a sheriff’s department. My brother-in-law was an engineer in the army and reserves (though not a degreed engineer), and was able to translate that into a career in maintenance. The government gives financial assistance to veterans for education. Does the military not have any programs that help veterans transition back to civilian life and employment? I watched the very long list of organizations listed at the end of the video that imply help is available and I can’t help but conclude that something is wrong and we’re not understanding what it is. There is no widespread objection, at least that I’m aware of, to hiring veterans. If anything they ought to have an advantage over many people their same age.
I think we have to explore the possibility that the military, while it attracts many great and capable people, might also attract a high number of people who are a bit lost or troubled in life and looking for direction. They might have pre-existing personal issues that hinder their functionality outside the structure of the military. If that’s the case the government/military should focus on creating programs that are especially geared towards the needs of these particular groups of troubled people, rather than just repeating the standard complaint that too many veterans are falling through the cracks. It may not necessarily be a veteran problem, but a problem with a certain segment of the population that happens to have spent time in the military.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record but we can’t fix it if we don’t understand it, and I don’t think we understand it yet.
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Some military skills don’t translate to civilian work (infantry, artillery, Aviation Ordnanceman, etc).
There IS a 2-week transition assistance program that those getting out can go through twice in their last 2 years, and it teaches resume writing, interviewing, and such, but some don’t take it seriously. Even then, a vet’s choice of where to reside affects job availability. Going back to live near the family in small town west Texas after 10 years in aviation electronics may not be the best choice.
Then there’s the disability factor. Does the vet’s hometown have VA related medical care available nearby? Some. ets had head injuries that they thought were minor, and don’t realize that they will have long running effects and how that will change them. Some VA facilities do a good job overall. Some do well in certain departments. Some don’t handle acute illnesses and injuries (like the one nearest to my family). Some just suck.
As for discipline, many vets cannot handle civilian life, and that contributes to the 22 daily veteran suicides.
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Thank you for shedding some extra light on things, Crawfish. I think this is a problem that’s going to require some serious digging and thinking outside the box.
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“As for discipline, many vets cannot handle civilian life, and that contributes to the 22 daily veteran suicides.”
Astute observation, Crawfish, but I would substitute “structure” to describe what many vets find missing in their civilian lives.
Today’s America is a social wild west, where nearly anything goes, and even the most deviant of social behavior has its plethora of defenders. That is not the kind of world from which veterans come when taking off their uniforms that last time. There, they knew a semblance of order even when sh*t went sideways. Out here, rules are treated as halfhearted suggestions only fools follow, and “YOLO” (bastard child of the ‘60s hippie meme, “If it feels good, do it”) seems to be the operational directive. Many veterans have no sense of belonging in such a world, that can lead to loss of self-worth, despair, and for some joining that 22 a day.
A moment of personal openness:
I left active duty, secured a great career as a defense contractor, and joined the Naval Reserve. I had the best of both worlds to my thinking. I was doing essentially the same job I had in the Navy, with like minded people, for a lot more money, and could still spend some time with my fellow sailors, serving my country. A motorcycle accident shattered my leg, and part of my dream life, as I was declared NPQ (not physically qualified) for service due to a plate in that leg, and refused for reenlistment at the end of Reserve contract. It sucked, but I still had that great job working with those in uniform — until America won the Cold War, and the defense industry collapsed.
I was at RAF Mildenhall when the Berlin wall fell. Three months later, I was Stateside out of work. I thrashed around at part-time jobs until Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, and Operation Desert Shield began its build up. I investigated enlisting again, found I qualified for a maximum age waiver (age minus active time, and less than 12 years separated), passed the physical (that problematic plate having been removed several years earlier), there was an open billet with a fighter squadron, and could come back at full rank as an E6. BINGO!
Then Naval Records struck. They couldn’t find my Reserve separation paperwork until May of ‘91. During that time in bureaucratic limbo, my country went to war without me and began the post Cold War draw-down. It no longer needed, or wanted, my service. The passing of my father, a failing 20 year marriage, and son running with mutant, gang wannabes were the final straws. I dove to the bottle of many bottles for over six months, barely drawing a sober breath, all while getting up each day looking for reason not to swallow my .45 barrel first.
I was lucky, and recognized the path I was following. I gave my weapons to my younger brother, cashed out my retirement savings for a Harley dresser (‘91 FLHTC), and set out to find “my” America again, visiting family and old Navy buddies along the way.
Yes, it was still a ‘farewell’ tour in many respects — up to the point where I was run over by a semi on I-90 after seeing a sister in Cleveland. I lost control crossing the Grand River, slid along next to the trailer’s wheels as they flattened that beautiful machine, then nearly jumped off the bridge to avoid being struck by following traffic. The bike was a total loss, but I was unscathed and alive. Most importantly, I felt ALIVE again, and wanted to stay that way.
I knew from that moment my country did need me, if only to help turn it away from its own destructive path. Not everyone in that pit where I found myself is so blessed with a second chance to make a difference. It is up to each of us to offer them that choice.
(My solution is not recommended.)
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Your questions are valid ones, but I think that the problem is not that we don’t know how to help our vets, it’s that there hasn’t been any real major effort expended on the problem. All of the problems can be resolved, we’ve just been trying to do it on the cheap – and that hasn’t worked. Some are never going to be productive and successful – that’s the way we humans are – but the ones who want to fix their problems and will cooperate ought to be able to get serious help – regardless of the cost.
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Not a penny for illegals or muslim “refugees” until all American veterans are properly cared for, employed, and not homeless.
Period.
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Absolutely agree 100%
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Thank you. As a Disabled vet that served on active duty for 18 years I see I understand the plight of my fellow vets. I support them and I’m wit them thank you for the post
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Thank you for your service, bescher. I was in the USAF during the cold war (in SAC maintaining B-47s) and (luckily) never saw combat so my return home wasn’t that difficult, but I really feel for those who suffered negative consequences from their service. Yes, I’m a veteran, but I consider myself a veteran “Lite” because I was never under the gun like so many others. I don’t rank up there like my brothers who saw combat. They are the ones who deserve help.
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