Today is Veterans Day which is a federal holiday. On this day we are supposed to honor those who have served in our military, give them a salute and pay them respects… As we seek to honor, my question is what does that really look like? Seems to me one has to do more than simply show up to a parade, wave placards at a football game or get teary eyed over heart string pulling TV commercial.Currently we have a military where the number of suicides now exceed the number of people who have died in combat…We have a military where we have a homeless veteran population that exceeds more than 100k..40% of the homeless vets are African-American. Why is that?We have a military where sexual assaults directed at both women and men are at alarming epidemic proportions. More than 30k sexual assaults were reported last year alone..More men have been sexually assaulted than women last year. As we honor our vets all of us should be asking How and why is this happening?
We need to be asking how is that many who are now returning can no longer afford homes in the neighborhoods and communities that theoretically they fought to save..Many have found it difficult to get work.
Many joined the military because they were already poor and were told by recruiters the military would prepare them and give them an illustrious career. For far too many that not only has not panned out, but we also had policy makers who say they loved the troops but refused to pass a job bill that would help them get on their feet last year. Why was that?
Many who have bravely served, have returned home having been forced to do 4 and 5 tours of duties. It wasn’t what they signed up to do that, but once in found the,selves forced to comply as the US has fought a number of endless wars rooted in what we now call the ‘War on Terror’.
The end result has been large numbers of young vets, many under 25, literally losing their minds. They have returned home with deep depressions They have PTSD. They have returned home feeling isolated and as a result have turned to drugs and alcohol to self medicate. Many simply do not know they have a problem or are too overwhelmed to seek help. Sadly others have no idea on how to get help. As we honor are vets we should be asking.. How and why is that happening?
In honoring our vets, our actions need to go beyond holding a flag and yelling USA! USA! USA!.. We need to honor them by checking ourselves and reflecting on what types of policies we support and what sort of people are we putting into office. We need to be reflecting on what sorts of decisions we are allowing to happen on our collective watch.
Such action steps are not limited to ‘civilians’. It also applies to Vets themselves who see themselves as ones having a sound mind and spirit…How are you supporting people and policies who put your fellow brothers and sisters in uniform in increased dire straits vs lessening them? How are you supporting policy makers who by their own admission won’t allow their own children to serve?
It’s hard to understand how one can claim to be honoring those who serve while supporting politicians who have voted to cut pay and scale back on economic safety nets and resources for vets. It’s not like the military doesn’t have money. Those same policy makers have no problem in increasing the pentagons budget and allowing so-called contractors and the companies they work for like Halliburton, KBR, Dyncorp and Bechtel to make records amount of money. The top 100 military contractors clock in 6.5 BILLION dollars a day.. Sit back and reflect on that for minute or two.
Some of the politicians many vets and non vets alike have supported were among those who sat back and allowed contracted soldiers to make 200k a year with all the bells and whistles while leaving veterans who we are supposed to be honoring today short-changed for body armor, resulting in average folks doing cup cake sales and selling raffle for fundraisers..
That’s not honoring veterans…That’s exploiting.. That’s not honoring, that’s paying lip service and in many ways being outright selfish and extremely shortsighted..
In honoring our vets we are to call into question policies that put them harms way. There should be no ten plus year war in Afghanistan that has kept young men and women on the battle field longer than any other troops that have served in the past. There should not be drone strikes in foreign lands where innocent civilians are killed which results in entire populations wanting to bring us much harm to our men and women in uniform as possible. We should not be violating Geneva conventions and torturing folks. Such policies will ensure that happens to any of our troops that fall into the hands of the enemy..
We should not have policies that result in the wholesale slaughter, rape and pillaging of people in particular women and children..such demunanizing treatment is not easily erased from one’s minds.. Many return home having seen or been directly involved in such atrocious actions. Many go on to become cops in increasingly militarized departments and correction officers who see fellow Americans as enemies to be engaged, conquered and tortured vs uplifted, protected and rehabilitated
The best way to honor our vets this Veterans Day is not blindly follow and cheer lead policies that are profitable for mega corporations who are more interested in making a bottom line than saving lives here or abroad.
We best honor our vets by fighting for policies that’ll end war and bring home our troops so they can be around for friends, families and loved ones. We honor our vets by making sure they get the medical and psychological help they need so they can be made whole.. We best honor our vets by fostering a culture of peace and understanding, not war, torture and mayhem…We best honor our troops by making sure they are no longer political tools and photo ops for the rich and powerful but instead viable young men and women who really deserve a shot at life free of conflict..
written by -Davey D-
PS. Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Civilian Soldier Alliance are launching a social media campaign to shift the dialogue around this Veteran’s day. They feel it needs to be broadened.. For more info check out their site at http://www.ivaw.org/blog/veteransday-social-media-dialogue-broadening-conversation-war-home-and-abroad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP830OFrAso
I’m a Marine veteran with three deployments (one each to Iraq and Afghanistan, and one non-combat deployment)…I think the tone of this article is misrepresentative of the truth. I willingly went to Iraq and Afghanistan and would gladly do so again…and I’m proud of my service. I’ll admit my deployment experiences weren’t nearly as traumatic as some. However, for those who did have traumatic experiences, help was made available. Don’t get me wrong, we still have much room for improvement, but the quality of care and help has increased considerably since the Vietnam and even the first Gulf War. For my career, it’s true I’ve sufferred setbacks at the hands of terrible leadership. However, I refused to be victimized and always believed that I was better than those terrible leaders that I had. That is how I worked my way up from private to Captain. As for returning home to increasing militarized departments and seeing imprisoned Americans as enemies to be engaged…where are these claims coming from? I find them ludicrous. I myself do not see fellow Americans as “targets”. Rather I see many of them as victims of a government that aims to keep them dependent on government subsistence and welfare rather than foster an environment of indepence and self-reliance. Oh and by the way, I’m a person of “color” as well, whatever that means…
I’m a Marine veteran with three deployments (one each to Iraq and Afghanistan, and one non-combat deployment)…I think the tone of this article is misrepresentative of the truth. I willingly went to Iraq and Afghanistan and would gladly do so again…and I’m proud of my service. I’ll admit my deployment experiences weren’t nearly as traumatic as some. However, for those who did have traumatic experiences, help was made available. Don’t get me wrong, we still have much room for improvement, but the quality of care and help has increased considerably since the Vietnam and even the first Gulf War. For my career, it’s true I’ve sufferred setbacks at the hands of terrible leadership. However, I refused to be victimized and always believed that I was better than those terrible leaders that I had. That is how I worked my way up from private to Captain. As for returning home to increasing militarized departments and seeing imprisoned Americans as enemies to be engaged…where are these claims coming from? I find them ludicrous. I myself do not see fellow Americans as “targets”. Rather I see many of them as victims of a government that aims to keep them dependent on government subsistence and welfare rather than foster an environment of indepence and self-reliance. Oh and by the way, I’m a person of “color” as well, whatever that means…
So your experience is supposed to erase the stats that show the dramatic increase in police brutality incidents and deaths at the hands of militarized police.. Oscar Grant killed by man who served.. Andy Lopez, 13 years old unarmed killed by man who served… we can go on and on citing cases.. of that alone.. We can follow that up with the large amounts of suicides.. more in suicides than died in combat.. thats unacceptable and obviously those who took their lives aren’t as strong as you and didnt get the help needed.. That’s over 5k suicides.. The rapes that took place.. over a 3rd of those enlisted have been sexually assaulted.. thats unaccetable..There are documentaries, articles and an array of information to back up what I’m saying.. Props to you for doing well.. That has not changed the reality of those who are struggling..
I really have to question your statistics and where they came from. You’re saying that one-third, or 33% of all service members have been sexually assaulted? I find that extremely high. I will agree that sexual assault and harassment is a problem, however, not in the magnitude that you are claiming. As for Johannes Meserle’s military service…he never had any! I think it’s unfair to blame this death on service members when there is no connection. Suicides are a problem. However you paint a picture that every returning service member is afflicted with PTSD and is suicidal yet at the same time aggressive and vindictive and looks at fellow Americans as “enemies to be engaged”. That is simply not true, not for most of the people I served with. The Andy Lopez tragedy is exactly that…a tragedy, and I agree that justice should be served. The Oscar Grant situation again, was a tragedy…but I don’t know if it was accidental or not. I wasn’t there, and neither were the other 1000 or so protestors. But may I remind you that we have a justice system whose basic philosophy is “innocent until proven guilty”. I know it’s not perfect and often frustrating but it’s better than “guilty until proven innocent”. Many, in the court of public opinion, decided that George Zimmerman and Johannes Mehserle were guilty even before all the evidence came to light, and that we had to prove their innocence, not prove their guilt. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. However, I can say that neither Oscar Grant not Trayvon Martin were angels in their own right. And as for Kenneth Harding, he was definitely no angel. Pimping a 13-year old? Implicated in the murder of a 19 year old? This is the guy you want to martyr? Pick another person, somebody who actually made a positive impact on the world. The real problem I see here is parents not raising their kids…Where were Trayvon’s parents? Where were Kenneth Harding Jr’s parents? They probably weren’t there…or if they were there, they were weak parents…they let him do whatever he wanted…smoke weed, commit robbery, and so forth. What about the numerous kids in Chicago who are murdered every year it seems? This is even more egregious than the Trayvon Martin case, yet nobody gives a damn because it’s black on black crime and that doesn’t make the news. Where’s Obama and everybody else lamenting these murders? They won’t because they don’t care. They only saw in the Trayvon Martin case a chance to exploit this tragedy and politically elevate themselves. This is why Obama is such a hypocrite and the worst President we’ve had in awhile, I daresay even worse that George W. Bush (who was also quite bad, incidentally). Again parents need to get off welfare, find jobs, and raise their kids…can’t find a job? Maybe it’s because you talk like a moron, have your pants sagging around your ankles, and have a bad attitude. Fix that and you might get somewhere. Still can’t get a job? Work hard and become self-employed. Oh, dang, does this mean I have to work 100 hours a week and drive a crappy car? Yes. It’s called life, and it’s not easy. I’m a person of color raised in a single parent lower-middle income household, and I literally fought to get where I got, even though many told me I wasn’t smart enough or tough enough, even once by my own father. But I’m a better person for it and I feel that my accomplishments are my own and nobody else can take credit for them. And furthermore, I can depend on myself and handle almost any crisis that comes my way and still survive…I never play the victim card and refuse to be a victim…but that’s just me, what do I know?
Not gonna spend a lot of time answering a lot of misleading statements.. First the stats of sexual assaults are found in the documentary Invisible War.. The recent senate hearings bore out 37% of women in military were sexually assaulted 37%.. The Huffington Post ran an article on this as well
Tony Pirone is the cop who came on the scene first.. He was the lead officer who beat Oscar, called him a Nigger and assaulted the other men on the platform.. He served in Afghanistan.. I was referring to him and shouldn’t have said Mehserle..He was fired from the force bc of his actions..
Eric Gelhaus the officer who shot Andy Lopez was not just a tragedy, bc its been shown that he was pulling guns out on unarmed non threatening people prior to this.. Complaints have been lodged agst him.. Its one of the basis for the lawsuit..he shot an unarmed 13 yr old kid within 10 seconds of seeing him.. He told him to stand down when appraoching him from behind.. His blogs showed articles of him explaining to fellow officers on how to get clear yourself if u shoot someone with a toy gun.. These are facts that are easily obtainable.. the press conference around the lawsuit lays all that out..
Trayvon Martin was no angel?? what does that mean? He was violent prone? a gang member? a runaway? He has no arrest record? He smoked weed? was that his devilishness.. The man who shot him had a arrest record and recently beat his father in law with a gun as well as his wife.. Trayvon was raised by his parents. He was staying with his father..
As far as Chicago..The interrupters.. Girls Like me, YB100, We Are Not Alone, Anti-Violence project.. we can list groups who are out everyday in the streets of Chicago who have put forth solutions, work with youth and do what they can to stop violence which almost of all them say was heightened with the closing of local schools and housing units forcing folks from rival neighborhoods to go to other sections..There are numerous documentaries on this..There are anti-violent marches and vigils everyday.. which ones have you been part of?
Your remarks on rap are way off base.. 10 documantaries and numerous conferences on that subject alone show the untruths you just told..
And another thing!! Most rap sucks…not all however. I find the commercial stuff way too…commercial. Kanye West is a moron, and has never had an original idea in his head…same goes for P Diddy or Puff Daddy or Diddy or Sean Combs or whatever his name is…I don’t know because he keeps changing his name every 5 minutes…Snoop Love (or Dogg or Calvin Broadus) smoked way too much weed and now doesn’t know where he is half the time anymore…which is especially surprising because more often than not, his head is up his own ass. But I guess that’s good because that way he won’t drown in the rain…In 15 years he’ll be like Ozzy Ozbourne, a total whacked-out incompetent tweaker. If you want to hear good stuff, I recommend Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Del the Funkee Homosapien, or Jean Grae. Also, why do most supposed fans of hip-hop and activists seem to look the other way when rap artists spew horribly misogynistic stuff yet are up in arms when the military mistreats women? If you’re against misogyny, then you need to be against all mysogyny, regardless of the source, not just when you find it politically expedient or when it suits your agenda…