Veteran Stigma: "What Does My Country think of Me?"

Luis Carlos Montalván
Freelance Journalist, Veteran
Posted: June 4, 2009
Veteran Stigma: "What Does My Country think of Me?"
As if to pour salt on the physical and psychological wounds of millions of America's veterans, a recent trend has emerged in both public pronouncements and privately held attitudes that suggests that veterans returning from the 'long wars' in Iraq and Afghanistan pose a security risk to potential employers, fellow workers, and workplace patrons.

"I cannot be open about my post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with prospective employers in light of the Homeland Security debacle," says former Army Sgt. and Iraq veteran Steve Kraft. "It's like a scarlet letter."

The "debacle" Sgt. Kraft refers to means comments made by Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), citing a section of an April 7, 2009, DHS Report titled "Disgruntled Military Veterans" to the effect that "DHS assesses that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans...suffering from the psychological effects of war."

"Having been singled out by the media for attention, Napolitano's statement surely discourages would-be employers from considering hiring veterans applying for jobs, especially in an uncertain economy."

But while the DHS incident lingers in the minds of the public, it isn't the only highly publicized case of veterans stigmatized for their courageous and honorable military service.

A scandal at Penn State erupted in February when the University's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) department posted a contentious video on its website. Produced as part of a package to help faculty deal with "worrisome student behaviors," the video depicted an angry young veteran and a professor who felt threatened by him. Unhappy with his grade, the veteran threatens the professor and says he deserves a better grade, "or else."
go here for more
What Does My Country think of Me

Honestly, part of your country does not think of you at all. They don't think about where you were, what you did, how you did or what your future will be. It's not just veterans being ignored. It's people in general. They have a habit of just paying attention to one news report a day and the rest of the time they spend watching TV is about relaxing. Newspapers, well, they don't want to read them either unless they are flipping the pages until the come to the Help Wanted ads. Veterans are just more competition for them with less jobs to go around. National Guardsmen are a bigger problem because while they hold civilian jobs, they can get deployed and their jobs have to be held open until they come back.

Another part of your country thinks of you the same way they thought about Vietnam veterans. You're all crazy. Unfortunately that part of your countrymen will never change. They are uninformed and uninvolved. They can't understand you and have absolutely no interest in trying.

Then there is another part of your country thinking that we should do all we can for you because of what you were willing to do for us. They showed up in Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend and rode their motorcycles to The Wall. They came from all over the country just to show respect for the fallen and yes, to take care of the veterans with them. They showed up at ceremonies with The Wall That Heals and the rest of the traveling Vietnam Memorial Walls, shed tears, removed their hats, placed hands over hearts and yes, their hearts were connected to what the black walls meant. They showed up in North Carolina for the NASCAR race when President Obama had called for a moment of silence at 3:00 and the drivers formed a line, shutting down their engines, pit crews lined the road and everyone in the packed crowd was silent. Oh but it does not stop with just one day out of the year to honor the fallen.

They show up at the events for veterans from tiny towns to enormous cities. They show up volunteering at homeless shelters and veterans' hospitals. They show up making quilts, sending care packages, writing letters and breathing a sigh of relief when units come home. They show up when to line the streets when a fallen soldier comes home to be laid to rest and when a wounded soldier needs help renovating his house. They show up all the time because they know you did when you were needed to.

They also take on the battles you should not have to fight to make sure you are taken care of if you are in need of medical or mental health care, making phone calls, writing letters and posting on blogs to spread the word so others join in on the fight for your sake.

They don't care if you were in Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan or Iraq. They only care you went where you were sent. They want to know what you need and what they can do for you. It doesn't matter if they protested the war you were involved in or fully supported it because the end result is you were the one being supported by people on both sides.

Are there struggles and problems that should not be? Absolutely but it's up to you and the people that do care to set the record straight and get the others to open their eyes. It takes a lot of work to do that. After all, we managed to do it for the Vietnam veterans and think of how badly they were treated when they came home. While they still run into some pinheads, they are viewed as people to be proud of because no matter what they ran up against from the rest of their own countrymen, they never gave up on the rest of us or each other.

One day, the story of PTSD will be well known and they will discover there are different levels and different outcomes and yes, sometimes you come out on the other end better than you were before. Until that day comes, this part of your countrymen will not give up until there is no need to fight anymore.