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.
This article is right on the mark. I know, because I am one of those veterans. I’m not too proud to say that I used my benefits, and Im thankful for the help I’ve received……and am still receiving……for all these years.
Many veterans complain about the system…..which is imperfect, of course; it does have its flaws and is in constant need of funding. The funding, of course, is provided by Congress; if the Department of Veterans’ Affairs submits their budget to Congress but doesn’t receive what they say they need in order to adequately meet their responsibilities to the people they serve, veterans and their families are going to suffer……and believe me, they do!
Part of the problem lies within the Congress itself. Far too often, I find that the same congressmen and women who write the legislation providing funding for the VA have never served a single day in uniform, and therefore have never had the interests of the veteran in mind…..and don’t now. It takes personal testimony from members of veterans’ organizations such as the one of which I am a proud Life Member…..the Disabled American Veterans…..family members, or of the veterans themselves.
Veterans should NEVER have to go hat-in-hand to Congress…..or anywhere else, for that matter…..to ask for help from their own countrymen. It shouldn’t have to be that way.