As today is veteran's day, there was a lot of support for the troops through many different types of media, such as Facebook, Twitter and the news. It was really nice to see all this support and love going out to the men and women who are fighting, risking their lives for our country.Today, everyone was focused on showing veterans how much the country cares, and how supportive we are of the troops.
Not to be cynical of such a positive, patriotic day, but it seems to me that the only time this country is ever paying much attention to the veterans and troops anymore is on veterans day. After listening to all of the perilous times presentations, it was kind of weird to think to myself that we're in a war now as well. In the time periods discussed in the presentations, those wars pretty much were the main focus in the US, but the war we're in now doesn't seem like its getting much attention at all. Of course bringing the troops home is a high priority for the government as well as much of the population, but I would expect it to be higher. On this CNN list entitled "Your top election issues of 2012", you barely see anything about war or troops being sent home. The war could fall under the category of "state of politics", but still it's way too far down the list of people's priorities, considering it's an actual war.
Another issue that's been getting attention is that veterans aren't always getting treated as well as they should once they return home. In this report done by the US National Library of Medicine, it was revealed through a number of studies that millions of veterans didn't receive health insurance, neither did they receive ongoing care at the Veteran's Health Administration (this administration runs many medical centers and long-term healthcare facilities for veterans). Way too many veterans are uninsured, and report facing problems obtaining health care. For all the emphasis put on honoring our veterans, its pretty ironic that not enough attention is being payed to the well being of these people.
It seems like a great thing to be supportive of our troops and veterans on veteran's day, but shouldn't we be showing this support as a country all 365 days of the year, not just this one day? I think we as a country are very supportive of our troops and veterans, but this talk needs to be put into action more, by the government and the people. People need to remember that even though the war doesn't seem to be as big a priority as it should be, troops are veterans are both in need of help, not just oral support.
