Veterans suffer from national attention or empathy?

Empathy isn't the problem. Considering they don't care enough in the first place to learn anything. How many times have we seen the general public all upset over a news report as if they never heard anything like it before? They can remember who was a guest on their favorite reality TV show while ignoring the reality veterans live with everyday. Top that off with they totally ignore older veterans while veterans over 50 are the majority of the backlog of claims and suicides.

Veterans face a national lack of empathy
The Hill
By Adin Dobkin, contributor
December 26, 2014

Veterans from combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and countless other one-off endeavors around the globe face a crisis of empathy once they return to the United States. While this crisis is not without historical precedent, current factors in the composition and operations faced by our armed forces make the transition back to civilian life all the more difficult. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) run rampant and although medical research has leapt forward since previous major combat operations, proper diagnosis and treatment leaves much to be desired. The solution lies as much with society as it does with the individual and his or her medical team. In order to properly support the veteran community, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense and outside organizations must take an integrated approach that looks outside the box and treads into issues sometimes less palatable to government agencies.

Approximately one in five veterans deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq suffers from TBI and/or PTSD. While PTSD has been described in a variety of ways throughout combat history, the underlying condition remains the same. On the other hand, TBI has evolved with the course of battlefield medicine. Both are threats to the veteran community.

The fact of the matter is that while a volunteer-based military has created an unmatched, highly trained force, it has also become one that is obviously self-segregated. No longer does a national culture surrounding military service exist. An appreciation for service helps to ensure that realistic cultural empathy exists between the veterans community and the larger U.S. one. For disorders such as PTSD, this empathy plays a key role in working towards eventual reintegration. It is perhaps the single-most important factor towards long-term recovery, yet also the one most difficult to cultivate.
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