Taking Care of Our Vets

[EV_Ares]

Etched onto the wall of a sentry box in Gibraltar is an unsigned indictment from an unknown soldier. You imagine him there many wars ago, keeping watch and weighing his prospects for a normal life.

God and the soldier, all men adore In time of danger and not before. When the danger is passed and all things righted, God is forgotten, and the soldier slighted.

President Kennedy quoted the verse in 1962 to the men of the Army's 1st Armored Division, who had been secretly moved into position during the Cuban missile crisis. "This country does not forget God or the soldier," Kennedy said. "Upon both we now depend."

How we treat returning soldiers once the parades have passed is a measure of a country's character and a government's competence. Often the war shadows the warriors: to the returning victors of World War II came honor and glory and the GI Bill. But for veterans of Korea--"the Forgotten War"--there was silence. Infantryman Fred Downs returned from Vietnam with four Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and one arm. Back in school, he was asked if he'd lost his arm in the war. Yes, he said. "Serves you right," he was told.

Link to Time editorial:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1806824,00.html

[erpowers]

1. Katz Needs to be Fired

Ira Katz needs to be fired. In addition, things need to start getting done.

[EV_Ares]

2. Some may get tired of my posting about the veterans plight but I get

really pissed. The suicide rate is unbelievable. They wouldn't be veterans in the first place if Bush had not made them such. They go to Iraq, many lose their families to divorce, many lose limbs, psychological problems, their lives completely destroyed, even banks foreclosing on some of them with their homes while they are in Iraq (another Bush job well done).

A big part of the country thinks it is a TV show to watch with them not having to suffer any of the consequences of this war, only watch someone else's son/daughter/husband/wife or grandson going through this thing.

And the worst of all the VA working for the Bush machine instead of the soldiers they are supposed to be behind.