(image courtesy of a Chloe Boulez tweet)

-- Modified on 5/26/2014 10:50:29 AM

It is a sad state what we provide for returning Vets

My Dad was a WWII combat vet...82nd Airborne, Paratrooper, 1st Sargent...total bad ass...

He was injured twice during the war, later on in life he had both knees and hips replaced by the VA...Great service and a true blessing....

But today the VA is not positioned to handle all the PTSD returning vets...just watch the last episode of Vice on HBO...we are turning our Vet's into Junkies via the prescription pad...Over medicating and not providing the needed therapy they so DESERVE!!!

We have the money for the new weapons, but not the money to treat our Veteran's, medically and emotionally for giving more than we will ever really know... good post...

I also thank those that contributed to pennies for a vet! Today my children, grandchildren & I placed more than 400 pennies on vet's gravesites that fought for the freedoms that all too often we as a society take for granted.

God bless us all!

I have 3 brothers plus my dad and 8 uncles who served. My oldest brother has had two bouts with cancer and suffers from Parkinson's (thank you, Agent Orange, Dow company, and 30 years of gov't denials) and my youngest brother, who suffers from PTSD and will never be the same. The least we can do is to honor them and thank them. Parade Magazine has a touching article about best friends who gave the ultimate gift to us.
To all Vets, we thank you. Nothing more can be said.......

As a combat vet myself, I just want to say, that the best way to honor me is to participate in the debate.  

When a soldier comes home from a deployment only to find that all the people he was fighting for are totally engrossed in "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" and don't give a rat's ass about NSA wiretapping or the erosion of the bill of rights, then I feel resentful--I feel sold out.  I lost friends and soldiers in my command who died for rights that most Americans don't actually value any more.

All I ever wanted to see when I came home was two neighbors taking a break from raking their yards, or talking over their fence (Remember Tim Allen's "Wilson?)...  talking about American values...  Debating the Patriot Act, the second amendment, whether we should, or shouldn't be in conflict X.

It doesn't matter to me which side you are on, what matters is that you care enough to engage in a discussion, to have a voice, to want to know what others are thinking.  I never wanted a parade, or a medal.  I just wanted to come home and feel like people were even the least bit interested in what liberty really means.  But it doesn't work that way.  Liberty is something we give a "shout out" to on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, but the other 363 days a year, the term is rarely used.