What Our Veterans Need - The Opinion of A Veteran

Because I am a military veteran as was my grandfather before me I have an interest in the military, war, patriotism and the general protection of our country. Of course the other half of me has a bit of conflict with current day soldiers as compared to those great soldiers of the past. Some things have improved and some have gotten worse. For instance now women can serve and risk their lives if they choose to do so, and there is much less in the form of sexual harassment now as compared to how it would have been for women in the service in the past. At the same time the men of the military have gotten much softer in current years as compared to the past. In the past there would have been much less of the mom fighting Congress for better treatment of her baby. I understand the plight of the mother but a soldier has to be tough and that can't happen with his mommy running behind him trying to save him from being yelled at and knocked out in boot camp while being trained. Now because the men of the war have not ever been taught to deal with their issues by their mommies or how to be a man by their daddies they are taking pictures of themselves torturing prisoners as if it is something to be published or bragged about proving they have no regard for confidentiality and should therefore have any rights to current or future secret clearances permanently removed. In addition to that you see videos of them on You Tube throwing helpless puppies off of cliffs. The list of cruelties goes on and as a result we will have more mommies fighting to soften the military. Why? Because of men who have grown up to become men only in physical nature but who lack true manhood in their behavior. My grandfather (who served in WWII) would refuse to tell stories of what he had done, what he had experienced and would refuse to teach anyone else his hand to hand combat trainings (unless they had also served in the military). This was because a part of him was a properly trained soldier who knew that the rest of the world couldn't handle the truth of war. (if it wasn't true - you wouldn't see people fighting against soldiers instead of for them in our own country) This was also in part because he was taught to be a REAL man and not brag about things that were not worthy of bragging about. The price he paid for this was not small. Yes he came home and was married and had a child and a good life, but he also had enough un-lockable truths within him to cause him to cope with alcohol. He drank himself to death in the later years of his life. Now as an adult and as a female veteran looking back at what my grandfather went through, what I went through and what people are going through today I can say that the place we need our mommies and daddies to take care of us is before and after our military time. We need support before we ever join so that we grow up knowing what privacy is about, and what safety is about and what true equality is about. We need to grow up with a deep level of respect for ourselves, our families and other human beings regardless of circumstance, gender, race etc. We need to grow up learning how to separate feelings from reality - meaning we don't always have to like what we do but sometimes we have to do it because it is our job, and just because our job has us making decisions that may not benefit everyone and in fact may hinder someone it does not mean that we have to think less of that person whom we are forced to hinder. (ie. just because you had to fire your neighbor does not mean that you cannot help him out after work, have him to dinner and play on the same baseball team as he does) When we cannot separate our emotions from our jobs it brings too much emotion into our jobs and causes all sorts of problems which may be simple annoyances in the corporate world but in the military it results in public humiliation of ourselves and others and publication of confidential dealings via the torture pictures etc. that we have seen. And it causes men to try to shut off their hearts as they toss puppies off of cliffs. If it wasn't for lacking lessons before the corporate world or the military world we wouldn't have these problems and if we did they wouldn't cause a mass public effect like war time media publications of negative acts by soldiers or negative behaviors by the thieves of Enron, Bank of America, and other companies with inhumane and negative practices. The other place we need our mommies and daddies is after the military. We as soldiers and veterans in general should be provided with more benefits after leaving the military, we should be provided with better exit training so that we can more easily go back into civilian life, and we need to be provided with exit counseling that is permanent and free to all veterans at the licenced therapist of their choice as opposed to only at the VA. We need our families not to fight for our rights in boot camp or during war but for our rights when we come back from war or when we are done with our military service. We need our families to protect us from employers who don't realize the sacrifice we've made or the qualifications we have because they are too busy looking at our ages, genders, and at the negative media about soldiers. We need our families to protect us from the media publishing all of these negative incidents that happen during war that only serve to taint America's point of view of us when we come back from serving our country. These negative things happen and they are just that - negative, but that is what happens during war. War is not preschool or church it is war. You cannot have it both ways where you thirst for violence in war movies but expect real soldiers to be fluffy little wimps who are rendered helpless by being forced to think humanely when that type of thinking can be detrimental in the middle of a war. Get over it people - it's war not playschool. Your good hearted help in the middle of our wars has only served to make things worse instead of better when we are back. What we need is a plan that will educate young mothers to teach their children proper values and lessons in maturity, honor, peace, equality etc. - a plan that will have our schools not undermining those important lessons in growing up and becoming mature - a plan that will provide much needed exit counseling, job placement, individual and family/couples counseling for military veterans and their families. Help us with that if you are interested in making this world better, making wars better, and making after wars better. You cannot expect us to treat others with respect if you can't bother to teach and provide the opportunity for your own child to do the same thing you wish people would freely give to them.

patriotism soldiers women military Congress mothers issues confidentiality