Are you still angry about what happened and what is happening to our troops in Iraq in Afghanistan?

[grantcart]

Next week we are going to hear the President's recommendations on Afghanistan and no matter what the President says there is going to be some frank discussions, some pent up anger, some tea cups may be jostled.

Are you still angry about what our troops have been through? The suicides, the PTSD? the huge number severed limps, severe head trauma?

Good. The folks that are still angry and in the midst of their thanksgiving will still be angry about what is happening to brave, courageous soldiers who have carried a huge burden for the rest of us are the conscience of this country.

But if your still angry I have a simple suggestion:





Become a volunteer at a Veterans Hospital.


Veterans hospitals use a large number of volunteers to help improve their service for vets. A lot of it is very simple stuff that everyone here can do like help with transportation to the hospital or helping folks get around in the hospital. You can simply help out at the information desk.



Volunteer Transportation Network

One of the most common ways to help a vet is to help them get to a clinic or hospital. You can do that.



Changes in the level of funding for the Beneficiary Travel program led the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept alternative options for transportation of eligible veterans seeking VA services. VTN was established to provide needed transportation for veterans seeking services from a VA facility and/or authorized facility. VTN guidelines permit volunteer participation in providing transportation to veterans using a volunteer’s privately-owned conveyance or a government-owed vehicle, including donated vehicles, county vehicles, DAV Department (State) or Chapter (local) vehicles, public transportation and contracted transportation.



To learn more about what you can do go here

http://www.volunteer.va.gov/index.asp


To sign up and learn more about what you can do go here:

http://www.volunteer.va.gov/apps/VOLUNTEERNOW/




Now I am not an expert on all of the facilities but I do go to a few on a regular basis. One of the strange things about these facilities, at least some of them, are the infectious upbeat spirit that permeates a veterans hospital. They are stubbornly cheerful places. They are irrationally friendly. If you start greeting the first person you get on an elevator with a cheerful comment you will find yourself making cheerful comments the rest of the day. You will see some very sad stories there. You will see the cruel injustice that war hands out. You will also be impressed by the irrepressible spirit of the human race. Across generations of WWII, Korean, Vietnam and recent wars you will see a common spirit of courageous people who continue to battle the infirmities of life as they once did battle with armed foes; this time their weapon is irony and humor.

I am glad to know so many here that are so angry about the darker side of the human condition that causes so much unnecessary suffering.

If you can channel some of that anger into volunteering at a Veterans Hospital you will receive a strong dose of the brighter side of the human condition. You will find that you are the illogical beneficiary of the paradoxical karma that seems to rule our human experience, you will get much more out of it than you ever put in.

Oh and since January 20th they changed the big picture in the lobby from this:



to this:






Happy Thanksgiving to all.

[cliffordu]

1. Hear, Hear!!!!!

Excellent work, as usual, and a damned fine idea.


As a value-add, you get to learn that the boys and girls who come back in need of the VA hospitals are just like you (mostly), not the scary baby killers portrayed by some of the more scummy trolls who come through here, hating the vets.

And, you get a ginormous shot of gratitude too....maybe be grateful for the opportunity to help some folks who truly need you.

Maybe understand that the most courageous act available to some of us is just getting up to take the next impossible step.

And the folks you help will love you for it, even though they might not get all up in your grill with it..

K&R!!

[cliffordu]

2. Sinking like a stone, these ungrateful bastids. K&R.

[EFerrari]

3. Part of the problem is that a lot of people could use a volunteer or two

themselves. These soldiers are coming home to a broke, out of work, stressed out civilian populace facing a lot of uncertainty about everything from where they will get to see a doctor at all to where they will live or work.

It's not ingratitude, it's overwhelm, imho.

[grantcart]

4. If your feeling stressed out a few hours at the VA will lift you up

Yesterday I was going inside with a stack of brochures and one slipped and fell to the floor. A young corporal who was getting used to his new leg was standing there and he bent down and picked it up and handed it to me with a beaming smile.

Volunteering at the VA isn't for them its so you can get a little dose of what these guys have.

[bvar22]

5. They changed the pictures but not the policy.

Not the kind of "CHANGE" I had in mind.