{"id":12126,"date":"2016-09-18T10:34:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T14:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12126"},"modified":"2016-09-18T10:34:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-18T14:34:48","slug":"our-nations-greatest-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12126","title":{"rendered":"Our Nation’s Greatest Shame!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"denied-google-search\"<\/a>Previously I have written about the plight of homeless veterans. I have referred to this as our Nation\u2019s shame<\/a> and I have stated that the word homeless should never be used as an adjective to describe a veteran. I still feel this way but I believe that the idea of veterans contemplating or committing suicide has grown to epidemic proportions and needs to be addressed immediately, and with all available resources, for this truly is our nation’s greatest shame. .<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I have read varying statistics that war veterans are committing suicide at the rate between 20 and 24 per day! That is astonishing that it is happening and it is even more \u00a0astonishing that it is allowed to be happening. At the rate of 22 per day, we will lose more veterans to suicide in 8 years then we lost during the entire Viet Nam conflict. This is not only astonishing, but it is completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n

This begs to question, who is responsible. Surely not the veteran who in an all-volunteer service put it all on the line for his nation. The veteran showed up, stepped up, and did all they could do for the rest of us. Now the rest of us need to show up, step up, and do all that can be done for these veterans. After Viet Nam the returning warriors were greeted with boos, name calling and spittle. Today we just seem to cast away our veterans. It must be realized that veterans are not a throw away segment of society that are forgotten and left to die alone in despair and hopelessness.<\/p>\n

Is the care we are offering our returning veterans the best we have to offer? Are we doing enough to make sure that the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder many are suffering from is being properly treated? If a veteran calls out for help from his nation, is that call being answer? Not only answered, but is it being answered in time? I think the answer to all those questions is no. We need to do more. Before we send millions of dollars overseas in foreign aid we need to address the critical issue at home. We need to take care of our own, first. And if that means there is not one dollar left to spend on foreign aid, so be it. To those who say the plight of those being persecuted by terrorist is something we need to address\u00a0as humanitarians, I agree. And we can do that just as soon as we address the plight of our veterans. This too is humanitarian aid, and it is more important.<\/p>\n

I certainly do not have all the answers. I only have the questions. Do all veterans who asks for help get it? Does he or she get it immediately and without reservations. Are we still putting veterans on a waiting list to receive treatment? Are veterans still dying while on that waiting list? If the answers are yes, then we haven\u2019t done nearly enough. We need to, we must do better and we must do \u00a0more.<\/p>\n

There is a movement in social media encouraging people to a challenge whereby they are to do 22 push ups a day for 22 days to call attention to the plight of the veteran suicide rate. Although this is commendable, I am not sure what this will really do. I think it might be better to write 22 letters a day, make 22 phone calls a day, send 22 emails a day. Write, call, and email your elected representative and demand they do what must be done for these veterans. Inundate them with piles of mail and phones that do not stop ringing until they do their job and turn this tide of veteran suicides. Until they do, we will have to live with the shame. That is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?<\/p>\n

Feel free to comment, like, share, agree or disagree with this post. Please consider a free subscription<\/a>. Options to like and subscribe can be found elsewhere on the page. Thank you for reading the Townehouse Blog.<\/p>\n

This material may be published, broadcast, or redistributed. In fact, I encourage it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previously I have written about the plight of homeless veterans. I have referred to this as our Nation\u2019s shame and I have stated that the word homeless should never be used as an adjective to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_daextrevo_audio_file_creation_date":"","_daextrevo_text_to_speech":"","_daextrevo_document_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rotate1_VISN10_Cincinnati.jpg?fit=800%2C333&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=37","url_meta":{"origin":12126,"position":0},"title":"Homeless Veterans, Our Nation’s Shame","author":"Tom Lind","date":"November 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"How is it possible that the word homeless can be used to describe a Veteran's state of existence. How can we, as a nation, allow our veterans to come home and then abandon them. Don't they deserve a little extra attention. After all, these are the men and women who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/gty_veteran_dm_120320_wblog.jpg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/gty_veteran_dm_120320_wblog.jpg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/gty_veteran_dm_120320_wblog.jpg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/gty_veteran_dm_120320_wblog.jpg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":879,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=879","url_meta":{"origin":12126,"position":1},"title":"Military Liaison Group","author":"Tom Lind","date":"May 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Kudos to the Cincinnati Police Department for establishing the Military Liaison Group. This group will work in conjunction with organizations such as Battle In Distress, Veterans Court, the VA Hospital, and the Joseph House to assist returning soldiers during their transition back into civilian life. In addition, members will assist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"gmbusvet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/gmbusvet-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1167,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=1167","url_meta":{"origin":12126,"position":2},"title":"Thank A Veteran!","author":"Tom Lind","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Veteran's Day. First off, a quick reminder to all politicians that today is the National Holiday when living Veterans are honored. Invariably, each year, some politician, somewhere, makes a reference to all those veterans who have given their lives for this country. Typically those politicians are not veterans so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"vetpos87","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/vetpos87.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14367,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=14367","url_meta":{"origin":12126,"position":3},"title":"Veteran’s Day 2024","author":"Tom Lind","date":"November 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Veteran\u2019s Day! First and foremost, I\u2019d like to remind all politicians that today is a national holiday dedicated to honoring the veterans of our country. Every year, it seems that some politician, somewhere, makes a reference to all the veterans who have sacrificed their lives for our nation. Unfortunately,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/BetDay2024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":291,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=291","url_meta":{"origin":12126,"position":4},"title":"What Are You Giving For Christmas?","author":"Tom Lind","date":"December 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This time of the year is all about giving and getting. Many merchants are finally operating in the black and they get the gift of staying open for another year. Frequently you ask, or will be asked, \"what are you getting for Christmas this year?\" Depending on who you ask,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"What Are You Giving For Christmas?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/sadchristmas-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13349,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=13349","url_meta":{"origin":12126,"position":5},"title":"Heavier Than I Thought","author":"Tom Lind","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Little did I know, a few days ago, when I wrote the article \u201cThey Ain\u2019t Heavy\u201d how some folks would react.\u00a0 I know, and expect, everyone will not agree with what I have to say.\u00a0 But I did not expect this bit to cause the emotional break down that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/nancypelosipic3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p38YRh-39A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}