We were young too and we still need help scream from Vietnam family veterans

Ok, I am officially pissed off again. Do they have a clue that PTSD and combat wounds didn't just start? Everytime I read about young "caregivers" thinking they are the only ones needing help, it is infuriating because my generation followed in the footsteps of older veterans and their families. We just took those steps and managed to walk miles more to get this country to do the right thing for all of us and whatever generation coming behind us would face.

Military caregiver: We're young, and we need help
AZ Central
Melissa Comeau, AZ
December 12, 2014

Wife of a veteran: Soldiers returning from war today often require care for decades. Yet many programs don't support them or their caregivers. Here's how you can help us.
read more here


My Comment

We were young too. I was only 23 when we met. My husband was young when he enlisted at 17 and turned 19 in Vietnam. PTSD took control of our lives and we had nowhere to turn. We didn't have Facebook or online support groups. We didn't even have the internet. While everything available for the younger veterans today became possible because of older veterans and our families, we're left out of what younger ones think should only be for them.

We were caregivers longer but no one ever thinks of us. Most of the backlog claims are from 50 and older veterans. Most of the veterans committing suicide are over 50.

I am glad your generation has been getting plenty of attention because that is what our generation fought for.

The question is, when does your generation remember we've been waiting even longer?

The pictures all over Facebook are of young veterans but our's are in photo albums unless someone knows how to use a scanner. They are in books at the library because they are part of history that apparently has been forgotten by this generation. Pictures like this one.

Veterans came back from Vietnam but older veterans didn't want anything to do with them. When they decided to fight for what was right, they included the older veterans because they knew they waited longer for the same wounds to be taken care of. They used the power of their numbers and their voices even though the American public wanted nothing to do with them.

This generation doesn't even know where the term "new normal" came from and my generation started it because we were pissed off watching talk shows about trivial problems when what we were going through was kept secret. We were conditioned to feel ashamed by our parents telling us to suck it up and get over it. After all that was what they did.

They did it and they suffered for it instead of healing and finding peace. They committed suicide and drank too much. They got divorced at higher percentages than their civilian peers. They swapped war stories at the local bar. So did we but we were not willing to settle for bitter tears and we opened our mouths.

We did it without the internet at first but then in the 90's we managed to learn how to join forces across the nation and make things happen faster.

We ended up left out of what this internet generation thinks they are the only ones going through any of this. So how is it the generation that fought for all generations is yet again last on the list to get what we waited longer for and fought harder for?

We want this generation to have it better than we did but that doesn't mean we should be shoved out of their way.

We were there when troops were sent off to war in the 90's and when they were sent into Afghanistan and Iraq. Our generation sent our own kids. We knew that while things were not perfect for them when they came home, they were a hell of a lot better than what our generation came home to. We were there to offer support, help and educate them so they wouldn't have to learn all of this the hard way.

I've been doing this for over 30 years and I am no longer young. None of the leaders are young and we are far from foolish yet this generation fails time after time to listen to those who have been here longer and had to learn the hard way.

So how is it this generation so technological savvy is so misinformed?

I read Facebook posts and pop into this group or that one after someone wants me to support their group yet have found too few deserving it. Why? Because they cannot even answer basic questions.

They don't understand PTSD or why some have it and they sure as hell have no clue what works yet they get the attention as "experts" pushing others into information overload.

It happens when news reports come out and they just post what was reported without understanding basic history enough to know it is a load of crap just like the latest suicide prevention bill coming on the tail of others that failed.

We know better because we've been doing it longer and as for learning, we researched as if our lives depended on it simply because they did.  No one was fighting for us back then and no one is remembering us now.

WE ARE VETERAN FAMILY VETERANS