Veterans Day take the time to witness something amazing

Veterans Day take the time to witness something amazing
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 8, 2013

There is so much going on that keeps getting missed twice a year. On Memorial Day the fallen are honored and remembered all across the country by those not too busy shopping. On Veterans Day those who served are honored by those willing to take the time to show up. What keeps getting missed is how they treat each other.

There is a really good post up on Lufkin Daily News that you should read about Gary Stallard coming aware of what being a combat veteran is all about. They do it so we don’t have to.

This is part of what he wrote.

"They did what they did, and suffered what they suffered, so the rest of us don’t have to. That’s it. That’s what sacrifice means: Giving up one’s self for another."

Veterans are only 7% of the population. Many think there is no way civilians can understand any of them but that is not true. While civilians cannot know what it is like for them, they can try to and they should. Settling for excuses serves no one who serves.

Stallard wrote about a Vietnam veteran he knows at the VA.

"I know a Vietnam veteran who wonders, when he sees today’s support of our military and vets, why he didn’t have that when he came home. He didn’t march in any “Welcome Home” parade; in fact, the reactions toward those returning from that war included spitting and outright revile. Those soldiers, too, were serving proudly, only his was an unpopular war — a term reeking of redundancy. He isn’t bitter, and he certainly doesn’t begrudge the current group of warriors their love and respect. He just doesn’t understand why he and his buddies didn’t receive the same."

The truth is everything this newer generation is receiving from the government and the public is because of them. They fought for all of it. What many do not understand is they fought us after fighting for us.

We gave up on Vietnam veterans before they even got back home. When they came home they found it almost impossible to find jobs and even harder to get anyone to honor their service. They didn't give up on us.

No matter how poorly we treated them they had faith that if we knew what was happening to them, we'd do something about it. We did. We learned and we changed.

By the time I met my husband he had been out of the Army for ten years. I don't know what it is like to worry about a husband deployed into combat but I can understand it simply because I spend time with families and surrounded by veterans on a regular basis.

The families of military folks don't know what it is like to live with PTSD in the home for over 30 years but they can if they try to. I've done what I can to help them understand that PTSD doesn't mean the end of anything but a new kind of normal we can all thrive with if we understand it.

We are a tiny percentage of the population but if you know anyone going to a psychologist, thank a Vietnam veteran. Crisis Intervention Teams showing up after a traumatic event? Thank a Vietnam Veteran. Trauma units at hospitals? Thank a Vietnam veteran. The list goes on for what they accomplished because they didn't give up on us.

The greatest lesson they taught all of us is that their service was simply amazing. It really didn't matter what was behind them having to serve in Vietnam because that was not what war means to those we send. They matter to each other. They are not willing to die for any other reason than that.

We can talk all we want about how they did it for the country and toss in all the patriotic terms we can think of but the core reason went beyond patriotic and into heroic. That kind of love blended with courage has been on display for over 50 years.

This Veterans Day take the time to witness something amazing. Go to the events in your area and watch them. See how they react to each other and then you'll know what sets them apart from the rest of us. We can never make up for what Vietnam veterans had to go through to get us to where we are other than making sure they get what they need and are not forgotten among the newer veterans benefiting from the price they paid to achieve it.