Memorial Day Editorial

Veterans Before Students

The clamor over priorities in how we spend federal dollars needs a real reality check.  Before we get all twisted up in what interest rate students who borrow for their education have to pay, and how they can stretch out those payments, let’s spend the first money on those who give the most so that we can have these debates.

Those who serve in the armed forces don’t make the political decisions, but they carry them out and pay the price. They have not always been treated as they should be, but there is no limit to what we own those who come back permanently maimed, disfigured and with the psychological baggage of war.  The film clips between programs on prime time t.v. should be run more frequently.

It has taken this country generations to get things even close to right for veterans, but we used to bury a larger percentage of the victims before on-site medical care brought so many back missing body parts. They and their families must be recognized and cared for properly and continuously.  This does not always happen.

The mistakes after the First World War went violent in 1932 with the Bonus Army of WWI Veterans which were driven out of Washington by our own military when they only asked Congress for promised relief during the Depression.

General Marshall and President Truman reversed that attitude after WWII with the G.I Bill that gave able bodied returning veterans opportunities for education and employment, but I am not sure the disabled were as well recognized.

The Vietnam experience for veterans was a real reversal as they were often the recipients of the civilian backlash to the war. Immeasurable psychological damage was done both on the battlefield and in civilian life thereafter.  Lots of these problems have been given lower priorities and shunted off to Veterans hospitals who might not have the facilities to best deal with the long-term effects.

Now is the time to put in place those remedies that begin the day they return, expand with age and need, and remain in place indefinitely.  Elected officials take note.

The Social Safety Net begins there.

Jim Foster

Editor