Opinion from the desk of the Editor:

This op-ed will not make me many friends….for you see some wounds last a long, long time…….and there are some wrongs that not even time will heal.

It is well known that I think what the country and the government is doing to our veterans…..there is so much support and then those same supporters will vote against the benefit of our vets……most support is nothing more than lip service and a bit of guilt that these “patriots” are trying to soothe.

I take this lack of concern for the veterans personally.  I am a veteran of the Vietnam War…I was a grunt and on my return I was treated like a social outcast…..once people knew that I was in that war I was avoided like the plague….so forgive me if I sound a bit bitter and there is a good reason for it….I Am Bitter…..STILL!

Ten years after the Fall of Saigon this country decided to do the “right thing” and have a welcome home parade for the Vietnam vet….I was asked to participate but declined….when asked why… I told them what I felt….first, it is too late…second I would not be part of their lame attempt to cleanse their conscience.

I bring this up for a good reason…..we have a chance today to do the right thing for our vets from Iraq and Afghanistan and so far I have seen NOTHING that would lead me to believe that their problems will be treated and once again the country will crap on those that gave their all to do their duty to their country.  Their problems will NOT go away no matter how much spurious concern we show……why would I say something so negative?

Glad you ask!

(Newser) – Post-traumatic stress doesn’t fizzle away after a few years—or perhaps even a lifetime. About 11% of Vietnam War veterans still suffer from the disorder today, according to a new VA study, reports USA Today. It builds off landmark PTSD research conducted in the 1980s and finds that about one-third also battle major depression. The study also found that 18% of vets who suffered from the disorder had died before retirement age, twice the percentage of those without PTSD, reports the New York Times. Minorities, those who enlisted before high school graduation, and those who killed multiple times were also found to be at a higher risk.

“This study shows us what the road ahead is going to look like,” says one of its authors, a psychiatry professor at NYU. “A significant number of veterans are going to have PTSD for a lifetime unless we do something radically different,” he adds, referring to vets from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Along those lines, a doctor at King’s College London finds it “striking” that most of the Vietnam vets with PTSD had discussed their mental health in recent VA visits. “Clearly it doesn’t seem to have done much good.”

That is right……40 years later and the problems remain…..a job well done for an uncaring nation!

As things are today our recent vets have NO reason to feel like the country is going to come to their rescue…..but there is always those charities that help the vets…..that is true and most do excellent work….but then I ask….why should people that did the bidding of their country when called have to depend on charity?  Where is their country?

I am sick of all these bloated toads that we elect screaming about people NOT taking responsibility for their actions and they are the worse perpetrators….and then there are those that run up and thank a soldier for his service……nice gesture but if you want to help make DAMN sure they are not forgotten as were the Viet vet.