Honoring the Price of Freedom
The way wars are fought has evolved greatly over the last 50 years, but in that time our Veterans Administration has changed very little. Thanks to courageous medics, improved armor, and groundbreaking battlefield medical treatment, a much greater percentage of our soldiers are surviving than ever before. Our current system was designed to deal with veterans of last century's wars and is ill-equipped to treat the thousands of soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with life-altering injuries which would have been fatal in previous conflicts.
As someone who served in Iraq, I know first-hand the steep price that our soldiers are paying to safeguard America's freedom. Not everyone with whom I served was lucky enough to make it home and it angers and saddens me on Veterans Day to see that those who did are not receiving the care that they need.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a nonpartisan not-for-profit group, estimates that on any given night, 200,000 veterans are homeless. There is currently a disturbing trend upward in this number and many of our soldiers from the current fight are ending up homeless; reduced to desperately searching soup kitchens and shelters for the care they need. The suicide rate among our returning troops has grown immensely. In Western New York alone, at least four veterans have taken their own lives.
These soldiers are returning home with physical and mental injuries sustained while fighting for our country. They are our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, husbands and wives. I recently had the pleasure of touring several local veterans' facilities, and was amazed by the commitment and level of care provided by the doctors and nurses I met. There are simply not enough of them however to serve all of the veterans that need their help. The workers at our Veteran's Administration are trying to help, but must struggle to overcome bureaucratic red-tape and Washington D.C. partisan politics.
Americans can, and should, be having an honest debate about what's happening in Iraq, but must remember to separate their feelings on the war from the warriors. Soldiers do not dictate policy, politicians do. As citizens, it's up to us to elect leadership that will be proactive to the needs of our soldiers, properly plan and prepare before sending them into harms way. It's also our responsibility to ensure that they have access to the long-term mental and physical treatment they require when they return home.
Today on Veterans Day, I'm asking everyone to join me in a pledge to tell your representatives that only when our veterans have accessible and quality health care will their service be honored. Our soldiers fight bravely for this country and it's up to us, through our vote and through our words, to fight for them by holding our elected officials accountable for reforming the Veterans Administration.
READ JON'S PLEDGE AND SUPPORT OUR VETERANS
Our current system is failing our veterans, and until we begin holding our elected officials responsible for ensuring that our veterans have access to quality health care, so are we.
Jon Powers
Iraq veteran
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Please, remember these are our fellow human beings and the collinbrandt says, "welcome them into your life and maybe you will learn something from them.
I am The Collinbrandt which means I am the keeper of Collinbrandt Hill. It is a nice , prestine, place overlooking a river valley of which my ancient revolutinary ancesters and, the dozens of anti/slave GOP ancesters, fought for an evil that God would not abide by in the end.
Jon, The VA has never been able to take care of vets. It's not that it was created for wars of the last century but more accurately that it was not created to really help vets of any war but more to ease the consciences of the maggots that send us to war. I've listened to the crap about how the country and the VA cares about vets but if you look at their actions you have to know its just patronizing BS. I've heard all the talk but I've yet to see a VA Sec. that was willing to walk the walk. This war is not about our freedom Jon, it's about money and oil. Semper Fi
VETS
He looked for enemies on the streets of Baghdad, searching into every nook and cranny hoping to last a time .
Now he searches for friends in every nook and cranny as he walks the streets and alleys of city, USA .
In a jungle, a rice paddy and mountainous terrain he left a buddy, a mind, a part physical and hoped for understanding and only what was deserved . Is that a crime ?
It was a budgetary consideration said politics as you are only 11% of the population and not enough of you vote to get what you should and at the least try to make you ok .
These are the faces of today, still, from a time of 40 plus or minus years ago to a desert campaign of months and an occupation of 5 years to today where depleted uranium will rule the day for years to come .
Of course all Vets count but this is for all the ones left without a home, a family, a Doctor or even the barest amenities not even a crumb .
A heart hurts that any soul should be among these yet even Jesus averred that some of these would always be with us.
Yet those who go to war for a people, whether warrior or citizen soldier should have all that a representative government can do for them, all without a fuss .
All of this is for the ladies and the guys .
With love to all, A Vet, Tony 11/11/07
To use the phrase "the price of freedom" implies the soldiers currently in Iraq are fighting for our freedom somehow. Unfortunately, its just the opposite. Iraq was entirely Cheney's concoction in order to get his puppetmaster hands on 'C-in-C' warpowers and wield Executive branch power without oversight or constitutional restraint. It was supposed to have been a merry little war, just bloody enough to suit Cheney's needs. He misunderestimated the Iraqis. Perhaps you should have use a more appropriate phrase, "the price of dictatorship" perhaps? All those poor brave young men, dead, damaged or doomed for a politician's evil purpose.
Veterans should be cared for granted, but it seems that too many veterans stay frozen in time, locked in the wars they fought in and wind up supporting unthinkingly future wars as they grow older. Our security is now held hostage to the American Legion and their ilk for example. You would think they would have learned that war in the defense of any reason thrown out to the public is unjustified, cruel and even criminal; they haven't. Just wait. prior to Bush sneaking out of office and when he launches a war against Iran using the same trumped-up charges against Iran as he used against Iraq, you'll see overwhelming flag-waving support from vets. Somtimes you deserve what you get.
Well,,,,,
It is not like this is a new phenomenon. I mean the lack of care for veterans. George Washington had the same troubles in seeing that Americans who fought for liberty and freedom receive the proper care. The GI Bill after WW II received much criticism as a Give-Away program and the REAL heroes were only those who gave the LAST full measure.
I suppose it is sorta like the man who builds your swimming pool, a few summers pass and most can*t even remember the fellows name.
Oh, and we might all do well to just speak to ANY handy caped person, soldier or not. In a wheelchair myself, I have had people come up and only speak to the person pushing or attending me. Nice enough in their conversations, to be sure, but they speak of me in the indirect, addressing rather those accompanying me.
*And how is Knute doing today* they will ask THEM,,,,,,
Sometimes I feel like waving my arms over my head and shouting,,,, *Down here! I am Knute,,,, Ask ME!*
Sheeese!!!!
I still have a brain, I can still talk, carry on a conversation, shake your hand.
Gosh!!!!!!!
All and all, it may be many things.
Uncomfortable with deformity and people with missing parts.
Maybe they didn’t like the war the Veteran fought in.
Maybe they did support that war but wonder why the Vet made it home and didn*t die like so many others had.
Maybe they feel that Veterans expect so much. Some people do get jealous of those offered a bit more than they get in life. A few years, one way or the other, and you may never see war and serve our country well and with great distinction and never see combat. All the better to be recognized for duty well served. You were there should the call have come.
Hard for some to deal with the Veterans Issue, but I think most Americans want the Vets remembered and treated well and with kindness.
JMO
All the best
Knute (Neo LIB)
Bush and his cronies are a constant problem, but the men and women fighting in Iraq are helping to maintain a stable source of energy for the country : a wholely necessary thing and a worthy mission. These vets deserve our thanks, and the care they have received shows the government is good at enticing them into the fray, but very ungrateful in their departure. It is sad when patriots are treated in this manner. The Demos have called them stupid and the Repubs have cut the budget for their care. We should put some of these guys into their positions.
Thanks for your article. What angers and saddens me is that we market service in the U.S. military as service to "defend our freedoms" when that is a gross misrepresentation of the realities. The fact is that our troops have been used a lot more for illegal occupation, invasion and offense than defending anyone's freedom. That is why I am saddened to see so many of our soldiers lose their lives in Iraq because our leaders sent them to war on false pretenses.
Our treatment of our soldiers and vets is as outrageous as the war we sent them to serve. I don't think that people don't care. I think they don't know. Thank you for helping to raise awareness. I'm off to sign the pledge.
Johnathan Powers said: "As someone who served in Iraq, I know first-hand the steep price that our soldiers are paying to safeguard America's freedom."
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Let's stop mischaracterizing facts, shall we? Iraq IS NOT about "safegaurding America's Freedom". It's about greed. Callous, wasteful, blatant greed.
We treat our vets like shit,
always have, speaking as someone who has waited on a VA doc and survived the blizzard of paper to get the smallest thing done, People will bring you up in election year and pretend you are invisible the next three years
Both parties suck at doing whats right
on this Veterans day everybody in politics can kiss my ass
The current crop of Vets will learn that they will have to take care of themselves as career bureaucrats stomp them through every crack they can find to deny service and help
I read that, this year alone, they said military
spending amounted to some 700 billion or so,
so if the veterans are NOT recieving proper
medical care at this point, it's time to
start going through the books and finding out what happened to the money, and probably
firing a bunch of people. I wonder if NEXT
year they'll have military spending up to 1
trillion? Hmmm...nah
Having worked in the mental health system in San Diego a military town and have seen the many, many vietnam vets living on the streets I have long been angry at such a poor system as to ignore those damaged by a war US fought. Since the Iraq wars, the first and now second, there is now more of these soldiers on the streets getting little or no attention. People drive by them everyday and don't see them as anything but bums/homeless by choice. So many have no benefits available or they are too sick mentally to be able to get to the help they need. We have yearly a stand down where services are available to those in need but these people, men and women, need daily help. The answer to why is this the way it is has always been: No money: No programs all the time: No attention from Congress: but the biggest and most wrong is that these "people want to live the way they are". Yes some by choice live on the street because they are not able to get back from the war they fought and the memory/damages caused by that war. Some will/would never come back. But is this what kind of problem overall we want to continue? To dump humanity on the street because we are too busy with our lives to see them? The wait time now for help is long and hard with paperwork and issues that prevent those coming back damaged from getting help. They give up or they are forced from what homes they have because they have too long to wait to get benefits, IF they qualify for them as that also is a hoop too big to jump for many. There are big problems in the systems both military and VA and who has tried to fix them?
veterans day was made to honor our fallen warriors true
i am very sorry that these brave men and women have become disabled and i am sorry that for all purposes many are being ignored due to their commander-in-chief beliving in throwing them in harms way but feels that he has only a limited responsability to their well being. so innocent and pure they are not. they took a job as a soldier and this comes at a personal cost. remember though all of these people in the military joined from their own free will and wer not drafted. the army is a dangerous job where people get killed and maimed, it is par for the course! you are a sondier not to make peace but to make war. you join the army not to plant flower but to kill others (for what ever reason right or wrong)
also this war is not for america and it is not for our freedome. this war is for bush and neocoms and it is to pad cheney's pension
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