America’s Fight for Heroes
America’s Fight for Heroes ” Daddy, you’re finally home! Santa promised you would be home for Christmas,” alittle girl shrieks while hugging her hero after not seeing him during a nine -month military deployment. Her dad attempts to act pleasant, but emotionally a war with depression has begun. The war starts to rapid-fire at his life: bang he loses his job; boom, he fails to retrieve ammunition to fight back the depression. As the enemy shows no signs of weakness, the hero surrenders and signs the peace treaty with his last breaths.
That night, the little girl stumbles on his body lying lifelessly on the floor.”Daddy wake up!” the child screams. The little girl has a daddy no more. This hero survived the war in Afghanistan but was unable to survive the battle in his head. Active military members require increased community and economic support to help accommodate the struggle of returning home after war.
Military personnel often experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), post -war depression, and physical disabilities. PTSD is defined as a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event (Post-). Currently, PTSD is incurable but treatable. Relatively speaking, twenty percent of the military population who have experienced combat have been diagnosed with PTSD in the past six years (Younger). A concerned military spouse was told by a VA worker that ” You’re only option is to take him to the VA Miss,” (Hamilton) a military spouse shared the unfortunate truth that the only support provided to military personnel is the Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospital.
The spouse’s husband was wrongfully diagnosed and treated along with the rest ofthe patients seeking mental health treatment from that hospital. Sadly, thousands of soldiers are left untreated due to lack of resources and services. Another setback returning soldiers face is severe depression. To be exact, nineteen percent of military personnel who return home are diagnosed with depression. Depression affects soldiers in their work and personal lives, causing them to isolate themselves from the outside world. The primary source for help is the VA, but they turn soldiers away daily.
Unable to cope with his depression, Specialist Ivan Lopez stormed Fort Hood hospital in 2009 and killed three people. If the specialist received more mental help, would the shooting have ever occurred? Lastly, soldiers returning home with physical disabilities struggle with financial problems. For example, Robert Lornia lost his arm during battle, and after retiring from the military, Lornia was sent a bill for 6,200 dollars due to medical expenses. He lost his body and his peace of mind in battlebut is forced to literally pay the price. This case is comparable to thousands of others that occur daily; America needs to step up and fight for their heroes’ benefits.
In spite of the obvious reasons that indicate veterans require more support, a number of people express their concern for the economy if additional support is given. To be specific, the first step in adequately serving this country’s veterans may be a costly matter, but over the years, the economy will benefit from the increased assistance for the veterans. For example, when a serviceman is no longer able to serve their country due to a mental illness they are discharged from the military. Discharges from the military are labeled as either honorable, other than honorable or dishonorable.In the case, that a military personnel contracts a mental illness from war related situations they receive an other than honorable discharge.
Furthermore, in order to qualify for the VAa veteran must have retired from the military or have been honorably discharged. Unfortunately, Ted Wilson who served in Vietnam was having suicidal thoughts naturally he went to receive help, but all he was given was an other than honorable discharge. His discharge disqualified him from receiving medical help; therefore, he stated “I had to deal with everything myself. Maybe having help would have made a difference.”(Philips) In order, to prevent the 1 in 10 veterans being denied due to their discharge classification the citizens of this country need to petition for a change in the VA qualification system.(Phillips) If all veterans were offered medical assistance no matter what discharge they received a majority of the veterans would be able to rejoin the workforce.
With more veterans in the workforce, the unemployment statistics for veterans would lower and that would lead to a decrease inunemployment income tax withdrawals for every citizen in the United States. Overall the beginning of this process would cost a considerable amount of money, but the aftermath of changing the VA system and offering every veteran medical support would help the country’s economy boom. As the War between nations continues, America needs to demolish the challenges faced by soldiers returning home. More organizations should be offered to military personnel besides the VA, and the requirements of receiving support from the VA need to be revised . Everyone wants to feel cared for and supported, especially those who have fought for America’s freedom.
In order to save the nation’s heroes, every American needs to speak out and challenge the current system for medical assistance qualification and encourage their communities to aide their local veterans. The brave men and women who fight for the protection of this Country are depending on every citizen in the United States to battle for their wellbeing, so take a stand be a hero to a hero.
