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                      VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 11-11-2008		  



 


 
 

 


 



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EDITORIAL: CALLED TO SERVE BUT RARELY APPRECIATED

-- "We've observed previously that the United States

likes its veterans one of two ways: fully employed

and fully functioning or in a box."

 

 

Editorial here... http://www.statesman.com/opi
nion/content/editorial/stories/11/11/1111vets_edit.html

Editorial below:

Your comments accepted at bottom of page.

 

-------------------------

EDITORIAL

Called to serve but rarely appreciated

EDITORIAL BOARD



Military veterans in the United States number at least 23 million, and what they have most in common is their participation in the dangerous job of enforcing the nation's foreign policy.

It has been at least three decades since the last draftee was inducted and so for more than 30 years people enforcing the nation's foreign policy have volunteered to do the dirty, the dangerous — not to mention the tedious, the redundant and even the ridiculous. Military life is composed of all of those elements, and all of us should be grateful that someone is willing to do it.

We set aside today to honor veterans, and it's too bad that the other 364 days of the year, Congress is looking for ways to trim the retirement, education and medical benefits that enticed a lot of veterans into the military.

Earlier this year, there was huge debate in Congress about broadening tuition benefits to veterans that meant more than all the those yellow "Support the troops" bumper stickers that offer no support other than moral. Moral support is fine as far as it goes, but post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and other physical and psychological wounds aren't cured with moral support.

Moral support won't pay tuition, and it won't put even one veteran into a home.

We've observed previously that the United States likes its veterans one of two ways: fully employed and fully functioning or in a box. It has had trouble historically with the in between — starting with the broken promises made to Washington's troops through the long denial about the infirmity caused by exposure to Agent Orange and on through the current and highly publicized scandal over conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Most will paper over those embarrassing incidents and examples of the ambivalence the country feels toward the people who answer the call to defend it.

We don't expect that anything we say today will change that, especially in light of the deep economic hole the country is in.

Veterans could and should play a role in helping the economy recover, but that will be tough given that only 25 percent of veterans older than 25 hold a college degree, according to national figures. There are, no doubt, a wide variety of reasons for that, but it is difficult to understand why three-fourths of people eligible for assistance in obtaining a college education don't take advantage of it.

Nonetheless, veterans are good earners overall, knocking down an annual median income of $36,053 annually — breathing life into that line: "We'll never get rich by diggin' a ditch......."

We could toss more statistics at you, but they would show that veterans are the real "real" people that fill political rhetoric. Their stories may be similar, but none are identical because no two people are alike.

As a nation, we're lucky to have them and should be grateful that they traded their time for our security.

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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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