Old Fixer, I'd like to hear from you -- and any other veterans on the KT. Tell us about your time in service, please.

I entered the military in the declining years of the Vietnam War and the draft. As with the vast majority of military members during those years and since, I didn't have to face danger from hostilities, combat or deployment to Southeast Asia.

I have respect and sympathy for vets whose lives were physically or emotionally damaged beyond repair as a result of their military service. Most vets still alive had military experiences like mine that were neither neither tragic nor a significant factor shaping their later lives. Many vets have nothing but gratitude for their military years, as a result of which they may have had the time of their lives (with postings to places like Europe) and or gained their career occupations through military training or the GI bill.

The draft ended in 1973 and all military personnel since then have volunteered. I think we'll never do enough for combat vets and maybe our public events and bennies should be restricted to them.

'I think we'll never do enough for combat vets and maybe our public events and bennies should be restricted to them.'

amen!

I'm working on Veteran's day, taking care of other veterans. ( :

If you have had a service hero (they are all heroes) in your family, we would all like to hear about their stint in the service.

My middle son has been in the military for 16 years. His deployment took him to Egypt for a year - the longest year of his family's life. He sustained a shoulder injury, but otherwise, came back o.k. - thank GOD!

Four million living American veterans are currently disabled for life, according to statements made at the October dedication of the national memorial to disabled veterans.

The memorial got underway in 2000. Since then 200,000 veterans have returned from war, disabled.

A year ago a Pew survey reported the percentages of veterans from different conflicts currently receiving benefits. A third were wounded during the Vietnam conflict and another 26% between that and 9/11. Eighteen percent were post-9/11 and the same percentage were WWII and Korean War veterans.

The cost of war goes beyond dollars and deaths during a war. This cost in dollars and lives goes on for decades. I think we need to put *all* of the weights into the scales before we even speak of another 'mission'. (Let's include the dollars diverted that are not spent on home 'missions'.)

I agree, chisue. The worst part of it is that post-WWII, so little has been accomplished. The money wasted and resultant suffering have hardly been worth it, there's almost nothing to show for any of it.

And many don't count among the "disabled veterans" any more ... because they've taken their own lives.

As a Canadian, I've complained bitterly to some of our local Members of Parliament, as they've talked of making a one-time settlement to those folks of massively diminished capability, of about a quarter of a million (and, possibly, up to 2 million). Invested at 2% ... that quarter million'll produce about $5,000. per year ... anyone know how to live on that?

Military people who leave regular duty before 20 years of service don't qualify for pension, receiving only the amount they'd contributed to the pension program ... nothing from the employer component ... and not even any interest.

People with disability can retire with pension after 10 years. But ... if they've been damaged, received treatment, and then have had rehabilitation, and that's finished, and they're unable to provide whatever service the military requires prior to 10 years of service... they get mustered out, with their contribution to pension, nothing from employer and no interest on it that the military had held for them.

Any nation that makes any claim to integrity who sends their fully capable youth off to war, must take care of them when they come back broken.

Memo to Canadians: get on your M.P.'s (rear end) - tell them that we expect/require better! They ought to be ashamed!

ole joyful

Funny how no one seems interested in the topic of a day that can be shared with others via the gracious contributions of businesses.

I don't know, OldFixer, I think we all get emotional & carried away when the talk turns to combat veterans.

Years ago, I worked with a young woman whose husband had been *paid* by the Army to go away;
he was *that* awful!

& his deal included full retirement.

He never went to war, never did anything other than work on trucks in the United States & in Germany.

Ran into the pair of them one Veterans Day, eating out on the restaurant's dime & getting a lot of recognition & approval & 'thank you for your service'.

& they were lapping it up & acting all gracious.

Those meals & those accolades should have gone to combat veterans & their spouses.

which brings up another subject dear to my heart, one that chisue touched on:

The other lives that are forever changed.

Years ago at a Memorial Day ceremony in which one veteran from every generation's war was honored as a representative of his compatriots, I noticed that every veteran was accompanied, sometimes all the way to the podium, by a woman.

In my opinions, the spouses of combat veterans are to be thanked for the difference they make, sometimes between a functioning life for their spouses, sometimes the difference between life & death.

They should get free meals & "thank you for your service", too!

Kayjones, my dad was in Vietnam and the Korean Conflict.

Public recognition is needed and welcome, but free grub and a memorial fall so short of real help, sorely needed.

The end of the draft and institution of a 'volunteer' army means that the average American no longer has a personal concern about members of the armed forces. Free dinners one day a year isn't any more meaningful than support ribbons and other lip service. It's a national shame to view commercials for private organizations begging for contributions to help disabled veterans!

We became cavalier about sending 'our troops' (mercenary army) abroad because, unless we live near a base, we don't *know* any of the troops or their families. It also seems to me that 'volunteering' for the military has been the *only* option for men and women who can't find stable employment in the USA.

We ended the draft instead of ending futile wars. Can't our economy survive without Pentagon spending?

Amen, chisue.

Joining the military has long been just about the only option for children who "age out" of foster care or who flee an abusive or miserable life with their parents.

I think we'd do better without the constant drumming up of war after war.

If the money that's spent on churning up conflict were spent on food & education & jobs & housing programs, I think it would serve the nation, & the individuals in it, far far better.

Old Fixer, the participating businesses aren't involved because of a patriotic view of vets. It's defensive PR and marketing, to avoid the negative publicity from NOT participating when so many of their competitors are involved.

I agree with what sylvia and chisue have said.

Not all service members are heros, far from it. Too many are like the guy sylvia described, people who are there trying to get by with the minimum level of effort and get to 20 years to get a pension.

The recruiting efforts for enlisted personnel focuses on kids from lower socioeconomic circumstances in small towns and inner cities. Lots of recruiting errors are made that the services simply need to deal with. As the military has downsized, they've gotten better about pushing out the deadweight, but they're still there. When vets show up for an event in their honor, you'll never know the heros from the coasters.

I want to add that I'm certainly not *against* memorials, parades, gestures of thanks, but...we must press our government to do more.