A Memorial Day observation

Dear Congressman,

I trust that you had an enjoyable weekend with you family during the Memorial Day weekend. Since my brother served in Iraq I try to take the time to thank the members of the US military who sacrifice so much for our personal freedom.

With that said, I think many war veterans get a raw deal from the country that is willing to give them a day a year but not the medical care they deserve.

In my naivete, I had hoped that Vietnam was the last major conflict that the men and women in uniform would have to suffer from the after effects of the experience of war. However, with the Iraq conflict, their is an entire generation younger than myself or my peers that have just begun their struggle against post traumatic stress disorder brought on by the events of the war that they have shouldered on our behalf.

This weekend, Cathleen Whitley wrote an excellent opinion in the LA Times that drove home this point. I would recommend reading it as, in my opinion, it hits home very directly.

We as a nation are great at thanking our veterans with a hand shake and a free round at the local bar, but when the fanfare dies down and the soldier is back in civilian life, we fail them at the time of their greatest need, the need to remove the shame associated with PTSD and recognize that it is not a sign of weakness, but an increasingly ignored cry for help.

My dream for Memorial Day in ten years time? That I don't drive by a city park inhabited by homeless vets that we shook hands with and bought rounds of beer for those ten years earlier.