Veterans deserve more than a parade

What patriotic American doesn't get a lump in the throat watching a Veterans Day parade? The gray and stooped World War II veteran marching (or maybe rolling in a wheelchair) alongside a young soldier not long removed from Iraq and Afghanistan, and maybe wearing fresh scars. All of it wrapped in red-white-and-blue rhetoric.

These are the nation's true heroes and they deserve their day. Actually they deserve more. So when the martial music fades and the confetti is swept into a pile, Americans can show their real patriotism by taking a hard look at what this nation is doing for, and sometimes to, the men and women who answered the call of duty.

A shocking statistic was revealed the week before Veterans Day: One in four homeless people in America is a military veteran. An increasing percentage of those are women. How can a proud and just nation let that happen?

War exacts a heavy toll on those waging it. Increasingly they come from underprivileged backgrounds and suffer psychological, medical and financial setbacks because of their service. It is well documented how government agencies have failed them, particularly the Department of Veterans Affairs with its overburdened and poorly managed medical facilities.

Less obvious is the quiet indifference veterans feel once their service ends: employers who don't want to hire reservists for fear they'll miss work to meet their military obligation; citizens who fail to recognize the wounds of war because they have sacrificed so little themselves; politicians who preach lower taxes while denying government programs the money they need to get veterans back on their feet.

"I think they'll be forgotten," John Keaveney said of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Keaveney should know. A Vietnam veteran, he runs a California program that helps veterans overcome substance abuse, get job training and find shelter from the streets.

"It's not glitzy that these are young, honorable, patriotic Americans," Keaveney said. "They'll just be veterans, and that happens after every war."

Shame on us if it happens this time. All Americans should take a vow this Veterans Day. After we have wrapped ourselves in the patriotic fervor of the moment, let us wrap our veterans in a nurturing flag of support and understanding the rest of the year. We owe them that, and so much more.

[Last modified November 11, 2007, 20:30:33]