America's Worth Less Soldiers

by
Chaplain Kathie

America celebrates 4th of July in style as we do every year. We shoot off fireworks and stuff ourselves with barbeque, watermelon and beer. Spray ourselves with sunscreen during the day followed by bug spray at night. We listen to patriotic speeches and music feeling how great it is to be an American waving our flags yet never really stop to think how we got here.

From the time the Patriots decided to do whatever it took to "form a more perfect union" free, up until last night, we have been a nation of worth less soldiers. That's right. Worth less, not worthless. See, we have a habit of saying we support the troops when we send them off to fight our nation's battles. We train them, arm them, cloth them, feed them and expect them to follow orders given, fight the battles no matter how truly worthy or unworthy the cause, no matter how plans are either proper or paltry, then stay until there is victory. We seem so interested in the beginning when it looks as if each and every military campaign waged will be quick and easy, believing we have the best military in the world and nothing can stop us. We cheer as we send men and women off with our thanks and our prayers.

We even manage to pay attention to news reports coming through our TV sets combined with the latest local news and celebrity scandals. We may say a quick prayer for the soldier just killed, then move onto our own lives, our own problems, our own personal battles. Yet that interest soon fades as military campaigns go on and we begin to think of the cost in terms of our taxes. We begin to notice things we need right here at home at the same time we hear about what is being done for the nation our men and women are dying in wondering what's in it for us. Then we manage to regret sending them, blaming the ones deciding to send them and the failure of the planners to provide this best military in the world with a swift victory.

Gone are the days when Vietnam veterans were treated with hostility when they came back from where they were sent. Gone are the days when troops return to empty airports. They are welcomed home to US soil in style. Many are given parades and parties. Even when a fallen soldier returns, people line the streets with flags as the flag draped coffin carries the soldier on his or her last ride home. We feel we're just doing our part for the heroes who say "we're just doing our jobs" when we try to hold them up as heroes.

We manage to do some things for them, but there are very few giving a few moments out of their day to honor any of them. When they go, they are worth everything it takes, but when they return they are no longer soldiers going to risk their lives. They are veterans and many of them needing help to heal from their wounds. Then, then they are worth less. They are worth less of our attention. They are worth less than making sure they are clothed, fed, sheltered and worth less than then helping to train them how to heal. We find it too difficult to help the wounded, say a prayer for them, spend time talking to them or even to take the time to remember what that red, white and blue flag actually means.

Yesterday President Obama hosted some members of the 101st airborne at a White House 4th of July party. You would think the news would be all over this event but I had to struggle to find the report. I finally found it on CBS videos.
President Obama celebrated the 4th of July with Fort Campbell's 101st.

Obama Wishes Happy 4th
Sat Jul 04 17:16:24 PDT 2009

President Obama honors the men and women who went beyond the call of duty in battle and speaks about the importance of our nations independence and reflects on what it means to be an American.

President Obama has done a lot for the wounded and our veterans since the beginning of the year and First Lady Michele has a great love for military families. They are setting the tone for the rest of us to follow, but we're just too busy it seems to remember the price our veterans paid so that we can celebrate the 4th of July with our families and friends.

It is our fault things got as bad for the wounded and our veterans. Sure, Bush was in charge and Congress was controlled by Republicans during the worst of it for this nation's veterans, but they couldn't have avoided the needs of our veterans as long as they did if we were paying attention. We let it all happen until the media began to tell their stories to us. Then suddenly we cared about what they needed. We didn't pay attention because a veteran, especially a wounded one, is worth less than a soldier. This attitude was made perfectly clear on the floor of Congress as budgets were being debated. It seemed the Republican members of congress found no problem at all funding the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, but found it very difficult to fund the VA to take care of the wounded both campaigns were producing. Again they proved to the world that when it comes to veterans, they are worth less than soldiers. America is not the only guilty nation of this attitude. I read the reports from the UK and Australia all the time as each nation seems to find the money to send them but never seems to find the money when it comes to taking care of them after.

You would think that having the best military in the world would also translate into appreciation of them when they are no longer in the military risking their lives, but spending the rest of their lives as the unique among us as veterans of this nation's battles. I wonder how many of our veterans spent yesterday wondering they have been forgotten. How many of them spent the day wondering how to pay their bills as their claims have been trapped in a mountain of other claims waiting to be honored? We know there are now over 900,000 claims waiting to be honored. Among them are claims filed by veterans of our nation's battles no longer able to work because of their wounds. They spent yesterday looking at their families and wondering how much longer it will take for this nation to live up to our end of the deal and take care of them. They spent it wondering when they will once again be worth as much as when they were sent ending up wounded and waiting.

Did they make us wait when this nation said "we need you" to go and risk your life? Did they make us wait until it was a good time for them to go? No, they never made us wait at all. Even when Vietnam was being protested and some burnt draft cards, they enlisted to go. Even when after September 11th caused a surge of enlistments wanting to fight the terrorists that attacked us, ended up being sent to Iraq instead, they still enlisted. Even as the appalling conditions at Walter Reed were being reported, they still wanted to join because this nation needed them. They were not oblivious to what this nation was not doing for the veterans, they went in spite of it. They still believe in us, that we would eventually do the right thing and really value their service.

How many families spent yesterday at the grave of their family member so wounded by PTSD that they committed suicide because help was not there for them? How many veterans spent it in shelters because they never received the help they need for their sake? So much we refuse to see behind the fireworks, speeches and music of this celebration we do every year.

So when do we actually live up to being a "grateful nation" and stop treating the veterans like they are worth less than soldiers?