Veteran's Day (and day 11)
The meaning behind Veteran's Day is fantastic. It's a moment to celebrate Veteran's and the peace they fought and continue fighting for. But once that war is over, we, (at least Americans) have a habit of forgetting about them until once a year. Death tolls are to be ignored, photos are to be denied and the actual cost to these men and women are shuffled off amidst the hype of "we won. Go America" that sweeps the country. Mission Accomplished flight shenanigans piss me off so fiercely because the soldiers are still over there fighting and its only gotten worse.
Then, when they come back, there are hundreds of issues we, the non-military, cannot even possibly understand.
Homeless Veterans are more common than you think. In Arizona alone, there are only about 200 beds for the almost 4000 homeless veterans. 45% of them suffer from mental illness. Half have substance abuse problems. 47% served in Vietnam. 67% served the country for more than 3 years. 33% were stationed in war zones. On any given night, there are over 130,000 homeless veterans. The number is an estimate because no one can be bothered to keep accurate numbers of homeless let alone homeless veterans. (moar statistics)
If you can even spare five bucks, a local homeless organization can take that five bucks and help veterans in your area. You don't think five bucks makes that big of a deal? Let me tell you, five dollars can make or break a budget, determine if there's enough food for everyone they're serving, go towards an electric bill to heat a house and pay for water for a shower. Five dollars is important. It's a big mac for you, it's three servings of turkey and stuffing for them. So how about honoring Veteran's on this Veteran's Day by finding a local Veteran's support charity and donating five bucks?
In a more personal relationship with Veteran's Day, my family has always had at least one member of every generation in the military since New York was known as New Amsterdam. My brother and little sister were Air Force and Navy. My dad was Navy and my Uncle was Marines. My cousins are Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. My Uncle served four tours of duty in Vietnam and never went to the Wall because it was too much for him, there were too many men he knew.
He barely ever talked about the war and that makes me sad because, all too often, we whitewash the actual cost of war and expect servicemen and women to go into the experience blind. Knowing that there are going to be missions where you're the only one that makes it back alive is necessary to preparing for war. Everyone should know about the cost so that maybe, just maybe, we don't have to send these men and women off to die. Maybe then, we won't mock diplomacy first and we'll show the utmost respect for our servicepeople by not putting their lives in danger without exhausting every other option first.
Rather than just honoring our fallen and those that have served, why don't we honor them by continuing to support them? It isn't just about the money, it's about fighting to make sure we don't endanger them any more than we have to by entering needless wars. It's about ensuring that there's enough healthcare so that, in 2008 alone, more than 2200 don't die because they didn't have insurance. It's about keeping them off the streets and sheltered. It's about honoring them day in and day out because they did and continue to do a job that some of us are incapable of doing. (and by some of us, I mean me)
Then, when they come back, there are hundreds of issues we, the non-military, cannot even possibly understand.
Homeless Veterans are more common than you think. In Arizona alone, there are only about 200 beds for the almost 4000 homeless veterans. 45% of them suffer from mental illness. Half have substance abuse problems. 47% served in Vietnam. 67% served the country for more than 3 years. 33% were stationed in war zones. On any given night, there are over 130,000 homeless veterans. The number is an estimate because no one can be bothered to keep accurate numbers of homeless let alone homeless veterans. (moar statistics)
If you can even spare five bucks, a local homeless organization can take that five bucks and help veterans in your area. You don't think five bucks makes that big of a deal? Let me tell you, five dollars can make or break a budget, determine if there's enough food for everyone they're serving, go towards an electric bill to heat a house and pay for water for a shower. Five dollars is important. It's a big mac for you, it's three servings of turkey and stuffing for them. So how about honoring Veteran's on this Veteran's Day by finding a local Veteran's support charity and donating five bucks?
In a more personal relationship with Veteran's Day, my family has always had at least one member of every generation in the military since New York was known as New Amsterdam. My brother and little sister were Air Force and Navy. My dad was Navy and my Uncle was Marines. My cousins are Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. My Uncle served four tours of duty in Vietnam and never went to the Wall because it was too much for him, there were too many men he knew.
He barely ever talked about the war and that makes me sad because, all too often, we whitewash the actual cost of war and expect servicemen and women to go into the experience blind. Knowing that there are going to be missions where you're the only one that makes it back alive is necessary to preparing for war. Everyone should know about the cost so that maybe, just maybe, we don't have to send these men and women off to die. Maybe then, we won't mock diplomacy first and we'll show the utmost respect for our servicepeople by not putting their lives in danger without exhausting every other option first.
Rather than just honoring our fallen and those that have served, why don't we honor them by continuing to support them? It isn't just about the money, it's about fighting to make sure we don't endanger them any more than we have to by entering needless wars. It's about ensuring that there's enough healthcare so that, in 2008 alone, more than 2200 don't die because they didn't have insurance. It's about keeping them off the streets and sheltered. It's about honoring them day in and day out because they did and continue to do a job that some of us are incapable of doing. (and by some of us, I mean me)