A friend who has not served in the military recently expressed concern about how our veterans, like those being withdrawn from Iraq, for example, make the transition back to the civilian world, and what kind of help they get in doing so. Today seems an appropriate time to address that.
First, those of us of older generations have to adjust our thinking a bit. Unlike the days of World War II, or even Vietnam, when we had tens or hundreds of thousands of draftees returning to the civilian economy in a wave, today's military is all-volunteer. Many of the troops pulled out of Iraq will not leave the military, but will remain to fight the next war. Second, troop levels in our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are far lower than the numbers engaged in some earlier conflicts.
Nevertheless, there are still large numbers of military members facing reentry. There are the disabled, and those who just choose to leave service for one reason or another. In addition, the 21st century has witnessed the call-up of Reserve and National Guard units on an unprecedented scale, and most of those men and women will return to civilian life. (Incidentally, for a detailed look at the National Guard experience, I recommend "As You Were," by Chris Davenport - see the link in the right margin to purchase from amazon.)
I won't go into the many forms of service and support provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs except to note that they exist (visit the VA website for a glimpse of the scope of these programs), and they continue to improve from one war to the next. For example, in recent years the former "Veterans Administration" was upgraded to a full-fledged cabinet department; and as recently as this Monday, President Obama signed an executive order creating a special effort on veterans' employment. But here too, there are gaps as rules and practices catch up to the changing realities of military service and military families, and complaints that more could be done.
That brings me to the many and varied nongovernmental efforts being made by ordinary citizens, or by veterans themselves, to provide help that fills some of the gaps. Let me just mention a few that I know of and/or have contributed to, that are serving veterans in innovative ways.
- First, there is an effort focused especially on today (11/11/2009), being publicized by bloggers on both the left and right of the political spectrum, to encourage 11 million Americans to contribute at least $11 each for assistance to veterans. The idea seems to be a kind of "United Fund" whose beneficiaries are a wide range of veteran-assistance organizations. This struck me as a great idea, based on amount most of us can surely afford. For more info, or to contribute, try: http://www.eleven-eleven.org/.
- The Wounded Warrior Project focuses on wounded and disabled vets with a number of excellent programs from the hospital bed on into civilian society.
- Some organizations focused on broader issues have programs specifically aimed at veterans -- one such is the Disability Rights Advocates for Technology (DRAFT), which runs a program known as Segs4vets to obtain those personal people-movers (Segways) to help disabled vets be more mobile.
- Last but not least, you'll find efforts on the very local level too. A few individuals within Mitre Corp. have created an effort in the DC area to collect men's and women's business clothing in good condition to provide to veterans for job interviews or other occasions. Called "Suits for Vets," the program even provides free tailoring, including special adjustments for prosthetics as needed.
These are, of course, but a few of the myriad organizations devoted to the support of our veterans as they return to civilian life. Your own internet search will turn up many more.
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