Veterans Day: Until you come and sit awhile with me

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 11, 2023

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary

When troubles come and my heart burdened be

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence

Until you come and sit awhile with me

Today is Veterans Day, well officially anyway. The thing is, we tend to forget that for them they are veterans every day of the year. They leave the service to our country after fighting her battles but their service never leaves them. They pay for it with their bodies, minds, and spirits. 

My husband is one of them. As his caregiver, I've seen what he goes through for over 40 years. When we were young it was hard, but we got through all of it together. We never imagined as we grew older, it would get harder, but it did.

I usually post on Veterans Day about them and families like mine. Today, while it is not so popular to do so, I want to post about those serving our veterans because they made the choice to focus on them.

We feel blessed to have had Department of Veterans Affairs employees helping us because we couldn't have made it without them. Yes, there are problems and horror stories within the VA system. For six years we experienced that first hand when his claim was tied up. That wasn't ten years ago, but over 20 years ago when before social media and when reporters didn't care enough to report what was going on. We were never alone in fighting for what he needed from them. He had great doctors who listened to him and when he couldn't fight for himself, they listened to me. They did all they could. No matter what state we lived in, we were not alone.

We are going through one of the worst times we've seen with an undiagnosed medical condition. It has been fighting for both of us. He requires my care 24-7 when he isn't in the hospital. That's why I haven't been posting much or even working on the next book. I can't do book signings or interviews to publicize the first three because I cannot leave him alone. At least that's why I tell myself but the truth is, I am drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. So is he. Even if I could find the time to focus on what I want to do for myself, I wouldn't be able to do it.

What I can't imagine is doing any of this without the VA Doctors, nurses, and other employees helping us. We feel blessed to know they are moving mountains out of our way and going above and beyond what their jobs are. Why do they do it? Because they have dedicated their lives to people like us.

I am a VA caregiver and found support, and understanding and have someone standing by my side so I can stand by his.

So on this Veterans Day, thank all veterans and families but also thank those who stand by our side every day of the year! You raise us up and give us the hope, support, and understanding we need "when troubles come and our hearts burdened be."

Old timers need to go old school and fight back!

We didn't shut up then, why do it now?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 25, 2018

Just got done reading and ranting about what was written for the generation of veterans and families forgotten about, yet again, and was so pumped up, I forgot to do this part, so that is the update. Now for the old news.....us!
Caregiving for veterans who have PTSD, at any age

Jeanette Steele at San Diego News Tribune is at least trying to get people to open their eyes that the majority of veterans and families in this country have been forgotten about. Yes, that means us!

Oh, sure, we were not the ones who invented PTSD, but we did invent the awareness of what it is and what it does. I've been in this for 36 years now, but others were ahead of me. This generation wants to take away a letter because they don't like it? We don't like what it has been doing to OUR FAMILIES and if they freak out with the word "disorder" then how the hell are they going to be tough enough to fight the actual fact that anything can get out of order until people know what they are doing to PUT IT BACK INTO PLACE!

We did it the old school way, of writing to newspapers, and mostly by word of mouth. You know, that thing we did on the phone with the cord we now call a landline and used for a lifeline and used out mouths to communicate instead of fingers. Hell, the only time I use my fingers other than on my computer, is still to use the middle one. (Care to guess what I'm doing right now?)

Cut through the part where we get the stupid pins, and displays of appreciation. Sure, that's all nice, but when we hear anyone talk about taking benefits away because we're old, talk about sending our veterans into the private healthcare system the rest of us have to deal with, then manage to eliminate the majority of the majority of our families from benefits they give to newer generations, that is more salt into our very old wounds. 

When will this country wake up to the fact that our veterans and families, like mine, ask for nothing more than we were promised? When did it become OK with anyone to have different classes of veterans who merited more than those who came before them, with the same wounds, and waited longer but not getting the same benefits?

They want to talk about things they have no clue about and most reporters just say, I'll print that, without ever asking a single question. That is how the rumor of "22 a day" took over social media, while the rest of us were running into stupid claims that it was only the OEF and OIF generation they were concerned with. Well, look what happened after that! Groups popped up all over the place, collecting money for talking about something they had no clue was a big-fat-lie!

Yep, the report they failed to read was chocked full of facts, like the majority of the veterans committing suicide (at least the ones they knew about from the measly 21 states in the report) WERE OVER THE AGE OF 50~

Are you willing to settle for any of this? Then get old school on them and WRITE TO THE NEWSPAPERS SO MORE REPORTERS ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS ONE DID!!!!

Military Spouses for Change (MSC) Opposes Bailing Out Wall Street While Military and Veteran Families Lose their Homes

Military Spouses for Change (MSC) Opposes Bailing Out Wall Street While Military and Veteran Families Lose their Homes PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE THIS MORNING (http://www.votesmart.org/search.php?search=76544, then click "current elected officials") and tell them that unsuspecting home buyers, workers, and investors, like yourself and your spouse (who serve this country) deserve as much protection as the financially savvy, multi-billionaire corporations that preyed upon you for short-term financial gain. Today Congress is going to vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which IMMEDIATELY use $250 BILLION to buy banks' and other financial institutions' LEAST VALUABLE financial investments (i.e. what no one else would buy). The President will be given an additional $100 BILLION dollars to use at his discretion to bail these companies out. Finally, $250 BILLION is going to be set aside for future bailing out.

WHAT IS MISSING FROM THIS PACKAGE? Assistance for homeowners who were lured into home loans that they would ultimately not be able to afford. In May, Bloomberg.com published an exclusive report stating that "[i]n the midst of the worst surge in mortgage defaults in seven decades, foreclosures in U.S. towns where soldiers live are increasing at a pace almost four times the national average." Moreover, Paul Sullivan, from the non-profit Veterans for Common Sense told Bloomberg, "`We've never faced a situation like this, not in the Vietnam War, World War II, or the Korean War, where so many military are in danger of losing their homes.'' We don't know about you, but how many of us really know what "subprime" means? Or "adjustable" rate? Did you know that while veterans comprise eleven percent of Americans, they simultaneously represent TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT of our homeless population? MSC does not opposed helping Wall Street.

We appreciate the need for the government to intervene. But we also believe that the individual tax-payer needs help too and this current plan rewards the predators and punishes the prey. When Congress tells us they do not have the funds to increase mental health services or family support services, how can we allow this bail out plan to move forward? We urge you to take a few minutes out of your morning to call just one of your representatives. Tell them who you are, where your spouse serves, and that you have had it with the rhetoric of supporting the troops (and veterans). Please spread the word. You have a voice. Don't be afraid to use it!

Your ally in change,

Carissa Picard--
Carissa Picard, Esq.President
Military Spouses for Change
P.O. Box 216
Copperas Cove, TX 76522
ww.militaryspousesforchange.com
"Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, 'the greatest,' but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is."Sydney J. Harris