Thursday, April 18, 2013

THE REALITY OF BEING A VETERAN

I was about seven years old at the time and was dump picking with my father. For those unfamiliar with the term, dump picking is a lot like beach combing. The only difference is that it takes place at the city dump. If Pa was an accomplished beach comber, he was truly a master dump picker. 

There was a man named Jim who worked at the dump who I became friends with. He was about my father's age and was the most horribly disfigured human being I have ever seen. With a child's innocent curiosity I asked him what happened to him. "World War II" was all he said.

As my father and I would go to the city dump on occasion, I would take a few minutes to talk to Jim each time. I always enjoyed our conversations. He was a very witty and intelligent man. After a certain amount of trust had been established between us, I asked him what happened to him in the war. He related the horror in but a few sentences. 

He was in one of the first landing craft that hit the beaches of Normandy. He was barely on the beach when he was hit by enemy fire. He sustained severe facial and bodily disfigurement due to his injuries.

And, because of his disfigurement, the city dump was the only place that Jim could find work. 

In effect, his country was hiding him from view.

Let's fast forward to the veterans of the Vietnam War. The discrimination faced by Vietnam vets in society as well as in the job market are well understood and documented. Thus, there is no need to plow over old ground.

When the wars in the Middle East started, it was interesting to note how the attitude of the public had changed. People waved flags, put yellow ribbon stickers on their cars proclaiming that they supported our troops, sang God Bless America at baseball games, prayed in church for the safe return of our men and women in uniform, gave discounts at Home Depot to active duty personnel, gave a free meal at Chili's restaurants on Veterans' Day, cheered when Air Force planes did a flyover at sporting events, gave up first class airline seats to military personnel, and had volunteers stationed at airports to cheer and welcome home returning troops. Even businesses got into the spirit of support.

The list of admirable things done for our Middle East service personnel is quite remarkable.

Interestingly, however, a recent report has shown that our returning veterans are having an extremely difficult time finding employment in the private sector. In fact, as veterans they have a distinct disadvantage versus their non-veteran civilian counterparts when applying for a job.

The results of the survey indicated that the reason for this de facto discrimination was that employers were reluctant to hire military veterans due to perceptions about PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The fact is that employers are frightened to hire the same people who they have been "supporting". I hope that I am not the only one who sees a harsh irony in this.

Looks like things really haven't changed that much.

Consider this: all people who have served in the military have been affected by the experience, but in mostly a positive way. In fact, military service has been a lasting force in their lives, instilling in them the important values of dedication, teamwork, patriotism, loyalty and hard work.

Which leads me to this:

If you truly care about our returning veterans, stop cheering and waving flags. Take a razor blade and remove the yellow ribbon stickers from your cars. In fact, get rid of all the meaningless, symbolic gestures and rituals directed toward veterans.

Then go out and hire one.


Readers, enjoy your day.


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