How Can we help our Veterans?!

What would you change first?  Would it be the need for better healthcare or would it be the fact that we need a better system in place for those that are truly suffering.  Perhaps, you would be concerned with the homeless Vets that are in this Nation today.  Or, maybe you would like to help these Vets that have fought for our Freedom and then they come back from the battlefield, only to find that their services were fine and great “away from home”, but once they are back on the United States of America soil, they are regarded as something out of a science fiction novel or a horror movie. 

Personally, from this writer’s perspective, there are many, many things that should really be done quite differently.  The fact is that we, as a Nation, have proven on more than several occasions that the Servicemen and Women that fight for our Freedoms and our Rights have been substantially UNDERAPPRECIATED!  That, for me, is totally and completely unacceptable.

We are so caught up in the day-to-day events of those that are famous or those that have “made a difference” within the realm of television or the reality of television, that we have seemingly gotten caught totally off-guard with respect to those men and women that are out there, every single day, fighting for our Rights and Freedoms and the Protection that has been afforded to us, as a Nation and as a society, by those same men and women that go into battle every single day!

These Members of Service don’t get a day off to relax.  These Members of Service don’t get to take Christmas off because it is a holiday.  They must stand at the “ready” at all times, regardless of what day it is.  Because, quite simply, Freedom IS NOT FREE!  Freedom is something that we have started to kind of take “advantage” of every single day.  We go to bed in our cozy little beds, in our cozy little houses, and never give a single thought to those that are on the Front Lines, defending our Rights to sleep in our beds, in our homes! 

As Veteran’s Day is fast approaching, I am left to ponder the many things that these Service Members do every single day, without one single moment of thought for their own lives!  They simply go out and do what must be done!  Unfortunately, and quite sadly, it is most evident when they get back to the United States, that the true reality is revealed, that they are not widely respected or regarded!  How sad this makes me feel!

I am from a Military Family.  I have travelled to many places that most will never see in their lifetimes.  I am PROUD to be a military ‘brat’!  In fact, looking back, I wouldn’t change any of it for one single moment.  The things that I have been taught, the things that I have seen, will forever be imprinted on my brain.  Being a Military Brat is not an easy thing to do.  We don’t get the luxury of growing up, attending school, graduating and having the same set of friends for the full 18 years of our lives.  We must make friends in a single moment and we must make sure that those friendships will last the rest of our lives.  Those friendships are forever forged between us because we know that our reality is that, in a few short months or years, we will be moving to somewhere else; although, where we might not know until the very last few weeks.  That leaves us just enough time to say our good-byes, and exchange mailing addresses and hug and cry and say that awful, so permanent word….”Good-Bye”! 

While most Military Brats will tell you, “Good-bye” is not a permanent word to us.  In fact, it is more like, “until we meet again”, or something along those lines.  We are forced to make friendships last and we are forced to settle into the new scheme of things rather quickly.  But, the point is, we do survive.  We do grow-up!  We do become contributing members of society.  But, what if we, the Military Brats, could change the world?  What would we change about it?

I know from my own personal experience, that the one thing that I would want to change is the lack of healthcare that our Soldiers receive when they come back to us.  Most of these Soldiers come back to us in a state of severe damage.  Whether it is physical damage or emotional damage, there is always some sort of damage that they are dealing with.  It is not easy to return home, and then be expected to return to “normal”.  Because, frankly, most of these Soldiers really don’t know what “normal” truly is.  The fact is that they simply return, knowing that they did the best that they could do, given the extreme, life-threatening, circumstances that they have been living with!

So, I think that they way that I would want to change the World is very simple!  We truly need better health care services for our Members of Service.  We need to recognize that these Soldiers are coming back here with some sort of “damage”, or that they are coming back here with some sort of psychological issues that really need to be dealt with.  They should not be left here in the United States, homeless, starving, living on the streets with disregard for what they have done for us.  They should be held to a much, much HIGHER standard than anyone else on this Earth.

Without these Service Members, YOU and I would not have the Freedoms that we have today and continue to enjoy each and every single day!