"The sacrifice and skill of our warriors" still ready to serve

Vets still ready to serve nation
Philly.com
By Howard Schultz and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
November 4, 2014

The platoon mustered at 0800 on a balmy Saturday, its members in shorts and standard-issue shirts, ready to be put to work.

All of them were veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan war - or both. They had gathered that morning, as they do once a month, to volunteer their labor, spending the next six hours sanding, stripping, and painting the walls of a cash-strapped nonprofit in Orlando that trains developmentally disabled youth.

Sweaty mornings of community service are part of the veteran experience that civilian Americans rarely see. The press, politicians, and even many veterans' groups tend to focus on service members who have returned banged up or who are struggling in their new civilian lives. But this fails to convey the full measure of this generation of veterans.

That wouldn't be a problem if Americans knew their military, but fewer than 1 percent of Americans have participated in our latest wars.

Americans often don't understand that most of our veterans have successfully navigated the transition to life after the military. Even those suffering from trauma or physical injuries can have an enormously positive impact in their communities. Our veterans are making valuable contributions in business, government, education, health, and community service.

The reliance on an all-volunteer military, however, has led many Americans to pay scant attention to the sacrifice and skill of our warriors. We let them protect us, while we go on with life as usual.
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