News Analysis: November 11, 2008
Today is Veterans Day, when we honor our heros who have served and continue to serve for all of us. Yet everyday we must continue working to ensure our nation’s support for our troops, veterans and their families is worthy of their sacrifice. To help, VFA is proud to release The American Veterans and Servicemembers Survival Guide. Download it for free.
Too many of our troops are returning from deployments with undiagnosed and under-diagnosed psychological injury — resulting in soaring suicide rates in the ranks. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are ending up homeless on the streets. Veterans have filed suit over how slowly the VA process its claims. VA hospitals and other medical facilities for our veterans have long been overcrowded, leaving long lines and longer waits for help. In Fort Worth, a new VA clinic is underway to help speed treatment to our wounded. Many of our young troops don’t know that VA hospitals are there to help.
Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans are gaining a powerful voice: their own. For our veterans and returning troops, connecting with others who share their combat experiences is a key part of a healthy readjustment to civilian life. MyVetwork, a non-profit social web community for veterans, their families and communities, debuts today to help mark Veterans Day. Visit the new site here. Sometimes, help comes on paws. Whatever works needs to be used, and spared from the budget knife that will inevitably trim some federal programs.
The stresses of combat on our National Guard are even more acute than on our active-duty military. The adjutant general of the New Hampshire National Guard said citizen-Soldiers can no longer be viewed simply as “weekend warriors” considering the number of deployments and scale of combat they’ve participated in.
For President-elect Barack Obama, some advice on Veterans Day to better honor our troops and citizens alike. Will he have a new strategy for Afghanistan?
Life-saving medical technology is helping save many of our wounded from the battlefield that never would have survived before — and creating some situations of overwhelming sadness for families brought face to face with the suffering of their loved ones. It’s what some are calling a ‘long goodbye.’
One retired U.S. General sees reason to be optimistic in Iraq. But if things are improving, why did the Army ask a 60-year-old retiree to volunteer for another hitch and deploy to Iraq? Maj. James Richards Jr., served in the Army for 22 years, and he’s pulling himself out of retirement in North Carolina to go to Iraq.