If you assume his panhandler status was triggered by the psychological harms suffered in the service that have been inadequately addressed by the VA, it kinda makes sense. And there is plenty of legit statistics by the VA and others that the number of fucked-up un- or under-served vets is legion in our fine nation.
Was that guy lying? May well have been. Was he telling a story that many, many people could tell truthfully? You bet he was.
How we as a society should support our mentally & physically crippled vets is a big question. Better IMO to have proactively supported them by not creating useless, needless wars followed by sending 10s of thousands of our young people to be damaged in those wars.
But given that we already screwed that part up, what now? And given that TPTB show no real interest in the problem, how, if at all, shall each of us salve our conscience, pay our dues, or whatever terms you prefer, towards the aftermath of this mess created in our collective names?
Easy questions to ask. But like any ill of our society, difficult to answer both comprehensively and in a morally justifiable fashion. Your own professional struggles with the nature and limitations of federal Social Security disability benefits should certainly give you a sense of perspective on the problem. If not necessarily any better insight into solution(s).
Yeah, I’m sure such people exist. Unfortunately, my work brings me into contact w/ the guys who just have their hands out despite a pretty clear ability to work - seeking Soc Sec disability on top of 100% VA disability - with no set off. And from my perspective, it was pretty blatant that the VA paid down the backlog just by paying anyone who claimed to have nightmares.
And this guy was standing on the off ramp of the Eisenhower at Harlem - less than 1.5 miles from Hines VA Hospital. Not as tho he was in an underserved area.
I fully agree with you, tho, WRT needless wars. The need to care for impaired vets should have been calculated as an expected line item in the “cost” of such adventurism.
Heh… I reverted to a semblance of the old hairstyle during the pandemic lockdown out of necessity. Just a couple of changes of clipper guard and done by myself.
IME, Army varies widely depending on time period, sub-branch, unit and specific theatre.
Or even “from each and to each, according to the Need of the Service.”
…
I get it that to an extent the whole TYFYS and ostentatious displays of “Troops-olatry” reflects a collective guilt-trip overreaction the nation had since the 90s over the treatment of the Vietnam-Era vets. Of course it would be even better if the response were real improvements in Veterans’ services for everyone from wherever and whenever, but there we are. Gestures of public veneration are cheaper than actual aid programs.
And those like you are what keeps the Armed Forces working right in spite of the fuckups. Thank you for… er, right, nevermind
I always felt bad for the guys for whom it was too damned late. They’d been ruined somewhere along the line and were beyond repair. Some, of course, had never been suited for the military life and never should have made it out of boot camp.
I’m an 84 year old Navy Vietnam Vet. I wear my Vietnam Vet hat because I’m old, and otherwise insignificant to most of the rest of the world. I like people to know that I cared enough for my country to lay it on the line. When I am told “Thank you for your Service”, I accept it, and thank them for their service, whatever it is they do. We’re all in this together, and we shopuld honor and respect each other.;
I wear my United States Air Force Veteran hat when I’m out and about, and I mainly do it to try to connect with other USAF Veterans. It’s always nice to find out where they were stationed, what their specialty was (mine was Supply), and to talk about things like what their squadron was in Basic Training (mainly to see if we might have been in the same squadron at one time.) They tend to assume I’m a conservative Republican (I’m a very liberal Democrat), so I usually try to gloss over the politics and talk of other things. Generally, it goes pretty well. I also like to talk to young people currently on active duty to ask them how the Air Force is these days, and it’s really nice if I find we were in the same Supply career field. Things have changed, that’s one thing I’ve found out.
dad wore those cheap plastic army glasses because they were pretty much free from the VA until stepmom said if he didn’t change them he was going to be living on the couch permanently
but dad has a ton of old army stuff he wears but mostly he wears newer stuff that says his years there and identifies him as a combat engineer…
21-year Navy vet. Joined SubVets so I could take advantage of the meals at the clubhouse (best hamburgers in town!), and wear my SubVets hat whenever I go out. If I get a discount somewhere it’s usually because the cashier notices the hat – I very seldom remember to ask for one.
I used to wear birth-control glasses (why pay for glasses when I can get them free?), but my current pair of Navy-issue glasses looks just like anybody else’s wire-rims.
I also have big dolphin stickers on my car, but that’s so I can locate mine in a car park full of similar vehicles.
I wear military themed clothing but only because I really enjoy military related activities, such as museums, air shows, history, flight-sims, etc. I joined the Army in the 90s because I thought the M1 Abrams was cool but wound up just doing computer security stateside my entire 6 years.
So in a way my A-10 Warthog shirt is TECHNICALLY vet clothing but I’d rather talk about the aircraft than my actual service.
