MOH Salvatore on Colbert Report

Last night Steven Colbert struggled to interview the first living Medal of Honor hero since the Vietnam War. Giunta struggled to respond to being called a hero as he said he did not fight alone, did not serve alone and that the award belongs to all serving. If you want to know what kind of men and women we have serving today, watch this clip, then come back.

Thursday November 18, 2010
Salvatore Giunta
Salvatore Giunta gives credit to all the unsung heroes who didn't receive a Medal of Honor for bravery in Afghanistan


Salvatore Giunta MOH

Why is it that we never seem to grasp this one simple fact? They do not serve alone but they end up going from an Army of one to being a veteran alone. They are forced to fight a battle the rest of us are supposed to be fighting for them. The battle to heal after combat.

Here is one example of this. I posted this on Veterans Today about a wounded Afghanistan soldier and how he was treated.

Congresswoman Kathy Casto went to Tampa VA after Private First Class Corey Kent had been transferred from Walter Reed to recover closer to home but ended up getting worse then had to fight to be transferred back to Walter Reed.

Staff at Tampa VA learn to not wake up PTSD patients
November 19, 2010 posted by Chaplain Kathie

* They plan to educate their staff on PTSD to ensure they take into account the unique issues facing these patients and adjust their treatment accordingly. They indicated to me that they understand your concern with having a care provider come into his room in the middle of the night and shake his bed as inappropriate for someone suffering from PTSD.
read more here
Tampa VA

"They plan to educate their staff on PTSD" which means what? They have not done this yet? How many years are we into PTSD research? No, not since the troops were sent into Iraq or even Afghanistan, but going all the way back to the 70's when Vietnam veterans came home and fought to make it happen. Educating staff now is about 40 years too late. How could they have ignored something as simple as not waking up combat veterans with physical wounds? A bomb wounded Kent yet staff had to be told that waking him up by shaking his bed was not a good thing to do?

This happens all the time as the troops come home across the country and it is even worse for the National Guards and Reservists coming back home home to their civilian lives. It is almost as if the military says, "Hey, thanks for showing up but now you're on your own."

Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta received the Medal of Honor for saving two lives and being a hero in battle but after listening to him last night, this man will end up saving a lot more because of what he said. He did not do it alone and maybe, just maybe, no one will allow them to come home and end up being a veteran alone.