This post is in honor of all veterans. In the midst of so many stories glorifying American soldiers and their experiences, what is often left out in all the rhetoric and flag waving are the hard realities, the horrifying truths, the utter disregard and disrespect that is a common experience of returning veterans. Of course, there is also the unspeakable grief left in the wake of those who never return home, the tragedy of how we send our children to kill the children of others in the first place, the insanity of "defense spending" - that is more than all other nations combined - while thousands of children die needlessly every single day of preventable poverty related causes in our nation and around the world. It is time that we find another way, one which illuminates our humanity, our higher wisdom, and an authentic and passionate caring and courage that stands up to the insanity and says No More! Another world is possible. Peace ~ Molly
*********************
US Doesn't Take Care of Its Veterans Now; It Has No Business Making New Ones
WILL PITT FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Memorial Day is set aside to honor America's veterans, those who have served and those who have given what Abraham Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion. Indeed, you will not be able to turn your head today without confronting invocations of honor and duty. While it is all well and good to do this, the reality behind what our veterans endure today obscures these pious platitudes with the hard reek of hypocrisy.
Average wait time for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans filing their first claim to receive the benefits they earned: between 316 and 327 days. Those filing for the first time in big cities wait up to twice as long: 642 days in New York, 619 days in Los Angeles, and 542 days in Chicago.
The ranks of veterans waiting more than a year for their benefits grew from 11,000 in 2009 to 245,000 in December, an increase of more than 2,000%. The VA expected the number of veterans waiting - currently about 900,000 - to continue to increase throughout 2013 and top a million by the end of this past March.
There are, on average, 22 veteran suicides a day. "I'm not surprised at the number of us that kill ourselves," Lincoln Capstick, an unemployed Iraq War veteran in Indiana where the average wait on new claims is 612 days, said to Time Magazine.
So today, as the politicians heap praise upon America's veterans, and as American businesses use veterans as props to boost their sales, remember what their sacrifice has truly meant...and remember that their sacrifice is ongoing, is happening right now, and will continue to happen until this country that so deeply values war finally steps up to care for he and she that has borne the battles.
A nation that does not care for its war veterans has no business making new ones.
(Photo: Will Pitt)
No comments:
Post a Comment