Shame on Veterans Day

Shame on Veterans Day!
by
Chaplain Kathie

When we talk about our veterans, we usually take the easy way out and say things that really don't mean anything because we don't show up to prove the words we use are real.

My email box fills up with events involving veterans here in Florida and around the country. I try very hard to get to the event with a video camera so that other people will know what went on. After all, one of the biggest complaints I hear from veterans is the media doesn't bother to show up and when they do, they will see a minute or two on the news. This always bothers me since I see reporters spending as much time as I do at the event but when I go to track down what they put up online, either it is very short or not there at all. Producers show some interest in sending reporters but when the reporter returns with footage of a small group attending, there really isn't a point in taking up airtime or ink in the newspaper especially when they have plenty of horrible stories to fill about people committing crimes and political scandals. Put next to a story about a celebrity on a publisher's or producers desk, the celebrity wins. They claim that people don't care about stories on veterans simply because we don't prove we do.

At Valencia College there were two recent events for veterans. One was on PTSD with a speaker from Wounded Warriors, Adam Widner. He had a compelling story to tell, talked about how he didn't want to do anything when he came home, including taking a shower and eating, but someone from Wounded Warriors showed up and got him to care about himself again. There were not more than 20 people there. I was filming him, listening to him and thinking how sad it was that more people didn't hear what he had to say. When I got back to the lab with the video card, it failed and the footage was gone. Much like the interest we show our veterans, it is there for the moment and then lost.

As the Chaplain for the DAV Auxiliary in Orlando, I see it every month where a couple of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans come to the meeting wondering where everyone else in their group is. The DAV had a BBQ for them and younger veterans showed up but many more area veterans didn't. Two reporters were there. One from Channel 13 news and one from FOX. Both reporters spent a long time there but a day after I only found coverage from Channel 13 News.

This is the video I shot. Three Iraq veterans were there and talked about surviving IEDs in Iraq but above that, they talked about how they keep giving back to other veterans. If you don't want to take the time to watch the whole thing than fast forward about halfway through.



More examples of the type of people we ignore.

All this week there are events for veterans all over the country and people will show up. Some do it because they are always showing up. Others will bother to make an effort out of guilt. More will complain about traffic detours because of the parades when they want to go shopping.

For people always showing up, we're ashamed of the rest of you. We're ashamed when you cannot care enough to just spend an hour once in a while paying attention to them. Ashamed when you can't read about everything going wrong when they come home and not feeling compelled enough to do something about it.

When you get involved in political discussions, do you ever talk about veterans? Do you understand it is politicians deciding to send them to war who are also responsible for what happens to them when they come home?

I have been tracking all the reports from around the country and year after year I see it getting worse for our veterans even as there have been things done for them, these programs are never enough to take care of all of them. I've been wondering where everyone else has been. When I talk to people about what is going on, they think it is a shame but they can't see they contribute to it when they don't pay attention on their own. Where are you when they need help?

When the Supreme Court ruled that Westboro hate group had a right to stalk families and protest at military funerals, the Patriot Guard Riders added 10,000 new members. This group began in response to this hateful group. People do care but as with the small percentage of people serving in the military, there are not enough showing up until something makes them angry.

When two Iraq veterans were hurt during Occupy protests, people around the country were furious but when there was a report of how 163 Marines tried to kill themselves so far this year, the blog world pretty much ignored it. When there was a report of every 80 minutes a veteran commits suicide, again, not enough people cared about it. Not enough people stopped to think that while this number is high, it is based on the deaths the VA knows about. If a veteran is not in their system and no longer in the military, they aren't counted by anyone other than their own families.

Veterans have nothing to feel ashamed of. They are not even ashamed of us when we don't show up. When we don't fight for them after they fought for us, they don't get angry, they get hurt. This all keeps getting worse for them. As people paying attention are terrified of what is coming when the rest of the troops are out of Iraq, we know what kind of nightmare they will return home to and we are ashamed of it.

This Veterans' Day as we think about how proud we are of them we should be wondering if we have done anything to make them proud of us.

Watch this from Paul Sullivan with Veterans For Common Sense then think about this simple fact; they have one day we "honor" them but they are veterans everyday. Where are you the rest of the year?

VCS in the News: What Happens When Our Troops Return Home?
Written by Jeremy Schwartz
Sunday, 06 November 2011 17:20

As soldiers leave war behind and return to Fort Hood, what comes next?
November 6, 2011, Fort Hood, Texas (Austin American-Statesman) — By next summer, this sprawling Army post will be more crowded than it has been since U.S. soldiers began pouring into twin war zones a decade ago. With combat operations ending in Iraq and slowing in Afghanistan, times are changing at what has been the Army's busiest deployment hub since 2001.

But while Fort Hood braces for the return of nearly 20,000 American soldiers, many of whom have served three, four or five tours overseas, Army leaders are struggling with the unprecedented task of reintegrating soldiers who have known nothing but war for the past decade.

Watch video of Paul Sullivan, a member of our VCS Board of Directors, discuss the magnitude and severity of the consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on our veterans, families, and VA
That same challenge is faced by the entire nation as it seeks to celebrate its service members this week by marking Veterans Day. Experts warn that America is stumbling into uncharted waters as it deals with the return of hundreds of thousands of troops — the 1 percent of the nation that shouldered the load of America's two longest wars.
read more here

Paul Sullivan puts it this way,