OEF and OIF veterans come home but not everyone cares

We've read hundreds of stories about troops coming home and being thanked for their service. Some people wait for hours at an airport to welcome them back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Other people show up to make sure wounded have a home adapted for disabilities. Really wonderful, heartwarming stories that make it seem as if this nation really cares about them but then we read about stories that happened in Gloucester when the VFW wanted to hold and event to honor them and no one came.

Low turnout to thank our veterans
Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Letters to the Editor/Gloucester County Times


I am an Army veteran and captain of the Mantua Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7679 Color Guard.

On May 1, our color guard was invited to Williamstown VFW Post 1616 for a loyalty day to thank our veterans for their efforts in protecting us. The ladies auxiliary had prepared food for everyone. Present were the Williamstown Color Guard and their officers, our color guard and Air Force ROTC representatives. Also present were the Monroe Township mayor, and county and state officials.

They had the hall set up with 16 tables of eight each. The event was open to the public, and a sign posted out front welcomed everyone to attend.

There was only one problem. Nobody from the general community showed up.
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Low turnout to thank our veterans

But this is not just one case of one community not showing up to even say thank you. It happens more than it should. It isn't just the government letting these men and women down, it is town after town and city after city, which is really terrible considering they are deployed from all over the country. It should never depend on where they live when they come back if they feel appreciated or not.

Iraq Veteran Comes Home to Warm Welcome Then Apathy!
May 10, 2011 posted
by Robert L. Hanafin

Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Come Home to War
We’ve done a series of stories here at Veterans Today (VT) dealing with the shocking scandals that tend to plague the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system. My last update on the Dayton VA Medical Center scandal was on 25 April, also back in late April VT was contacted by a young Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Wounded Warrior asking us to tell his story.

Although this is the story of only ONE Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran, we at VT know enough about the flaws of the VA system, most recently a VA admitted failure of leadership that we believe is system wide and fixable.

However, one only need go to young Veteran blogs regardless of their own personal political views on the war(s) to find one thing they all have in common – far too many young Veterans (well old Vets too) are still falling through the cracks of a broken VA system.

OIF Veteran David Kendrick contacted our senior editor Gordon Duff noting that he came across our website looking for military friendly news sites. David told VT that he made a short documentary on You Tube that he was trying to bring some media attention to. David was shot in both legs in 2007 and now he feels as if he has nowhere to turn. He asked us to view the video and consider posting it on Veterans Today.

We have decided to do just that, because we believe David is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to young Veterans falling through the VA cracks, not getting the word about VA benefits (despite in all fairness VA outreach efforts now appearing to include excellent TV ads outreaching to younger Veterans at least here in SW Ohio).
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Iraq Veteran Comes Home to Warm Welcome Then Apathy

OIF Vet Cry for Help!