Citizens ignore struggle veterans go through everyday

Veterans’ struggle
By Anna Fifield
January 20, 2012
US soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan face unemployment, isolation and indifference as they try to find their way back into society

Joe McDonald (left) and Jesse Llamas: McDonald served in Iraq. Military role: squadron fire support officer, US Army. Llamas served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military role: vehicle mechanic, US Army

In the car park of FedExField, a sports stadium in Maryland, just before Christmas, thousands of military types gathered for a curious American tradition: the tailgate. As the army and navy academies’ football teams prepared to confront each other inside the stadium, row upon row of SUVs lined up outside. Commanding top real estate in the parking lot, hundreds of veterans associated with a group called Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) ate pulled pork cooked on a barbecue so huge it was towed in, filled their plastic cups from beer kegs and, between banter, watched the game on a TV set up on make-shift tables.

The toll of this decade of combat is now well known: the lost limbs, the brain injuries, the deaths. The separations from spouses, children and normal life. More than 6,000 dead, 30,000-plus life-altering wounds, untold numbers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Suicide now claims more lives than combat – about 18 a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Veterans comprise 9 per cent of the total population but 15 per cent of the homeless. From The Odyssey – the original returning veteran story – onwards, society has always recognised that service members are out of sorts when they come home from war. But what is seldom recognised is how different things are this time around.

A recent Pew Research Center study underscored the disconnect. Only one-third of those aged 18 to 29 surveyed said they had a family member who had served, while an astounding 84 per cent of veterans said civilians had little or no understanding of the military.
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