I am one of the luckiest people in Florida

I am one of the luckiest people in Florida
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 8, 2013

There are really busy times of the year for me and November is the busiest. So many events to cover that most of the time I am not sure where I'm going or when I have to be there. Filming veterans events is something that I wouldn't trade places with anyone for.

We are a small part of the population but an enormous part of the history of this country. We come from small towns and big cities. We do the same things everyone else does, well almost. Most of our free time is spent with others just like us. We are military families.
It is more than a group. It is in our blood and we are family.

Vietnam veterans always greet each other with "brother" and just like any other family, they don't see eye to eye on everything. Yet just like every other family they are connected beyond what words can explain or generations can really separate.

Their Dads served and their fathers fathers served. Some can track back families back to the Revolutionary War. Their sons and daughters served in the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq. Some served in the air, on the ocean, on lands far from these shores.

Veterans are only 7% of the population. Add in active duty and that makes 8%. Add in families and we're talking about 20% but then when you add in all the other people in this country with a veteran somewhere on their family tree it is about as much as a majority as any group can be. The saddest percentage are the wounded and disabled veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs lists 22,328,000 veterans as of September. Out of them there are 8,76 million in the VA Healthcare System, 3.61 million disabled and they just hit 1 million receiving education benefits.

Less than 4 million disabled veterans and we don't take care of all of them. That is very sad. We've heard it for generations when election time rolls around and politicians want veterans to vote for them but the truth is no congress has ever fixed the system properly so we've seen the number go up, the press become outraged, the numbers go down and when the press isn't looking, whoops they did it again and the line gets longer, the wait becomes unbearable but politicians hope no one notices until they are forced to "do something" again to prove they care.

What the politicians fail to notice is they get more upset when they find out another veteran is falling through the cracks than they are about their own needs. Yep, they are amazing.

Politicians decide where they will go and how they will get there but when they get where they're going, all that matters is their family members are with them. They are willing to do whatever it takes to keep them alive, even if the price they pay is with their own lives.

Families, well, families do whatever it takes to support them because they love them and they know serving is a part of who they are. It is in their blood, carved in their soul and they would be miserable living any other kind of life.

Hell they prove that one all the time because when they get out of the military, the number one career move they make is into law enforcement, then firefighting, emergency responders, medical and teaching. Always wanting to serve and happiest when they can. When they can't they feel the tug to do something and they volunteer for charities and join groups.

They show up when no one else does but they don't settle for just what they can do. They make phone calls so others show up too, send emails and yes, they even text. Sooner or later an Army of veterans show up in cars, trucks and above all, on Harley's with leather and tattoos. Right by their sides are wives they know care just as much as they do.

I am one of the luckiest people in Florida because I get to spend most of my free time behind a camera and recording moments that prove this family, this enormous family, doesn't stop being a family when uniforms get put away. I get to witness the courageous are not afraid to hug, to weep anymore than they are afraid buy a beer.

Tomorrow my husband is going on a ride for homeless veterans and I'm going to the VFW on Edgewater Drive for their Veterans Day service and car show. Then we'll meet up at the Nam Knights for steak night. The rest of the weekend is pretty much booked up too just like most other weekends but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I often wish that you could see them through my eyes and then you'd see them like this. They are heroes after war as much as they are during it because even though the war comes home inside of them they retain that same desire to see others live on as they did during war.


Hero After War from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

One of the other videos out of, oh hell I lost count, is this Iraq veteran. He is a leader in Point Man International Ministries. I filmed him a couple of years ago talking about how he wanted to die when he came home. I got up to record a music group and left the camera on. I hadn't planned on filming him so the camera was jumping all over the place as my arms got tired. I recorded a man offering himself up for the sake of others.

I told Paul I filmed him and gave him the choice. I could give him the tape and he could do what he wanted with it. I could destroy it. I also offered to put it up on YouTube. He said he was tired of losing others and gave me the go ahead to put it up. That is what they are like and I get to spend my time with them.