A veteran is someone who, upon their enlistment or commission into the U.S. Armed Forces or U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, wrote a blank check to the United States, for up to and including their life, to support and defend the Constitution. That is an honor. Why? Because the most expensive thing everyone owns is freedom, and freedom isn’t free.
We veterans are an extraordinarily rare 6% of the population who served for 100% of the population. Veterans served for those who couldn’t and wouldn’t serve. It’s not that we veterans can, and others can’t. It’s that we veterans did, and others didn’t. For those who are not veterans, no understanding is possible. For those who are veterans, no explanation is necessary.
The veteran, not the preacher, gave you freedom of religion.
The veteran, not the reporter, gave you freedom of the press.
The veteran, not the poet, gave you freedom of speech.
The veteran, not the protester, gave you freedom to assemble.
The veteran, not the lawyer, gave you the right to a fair trial.
The veteran, not the politician, gave you the right to vote.
George Washington, commander-in-chief during the American War for Independence from England, and the first U.S. president, wrote that everyone owes not only their money but also their personal service in military defense of the Constitution. We veterans can be recalled to active duty up to the day we die if it is determined that we are mission-critical in defense of the Constitution or America.
Our service has a profound and lifelong lasting impact upon we veterans, so we pay over our lifetime. The price of freedom is seen at every veterans’ hospital.
For we veterans, even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon each warrior’s heart. None are more cherished in a veteran’s life than those who lighten the burdens from our military service. None are more damaging and deadly to a veteran than those who increase the burdens from our military service.
Far too many speak about their rights and not enough about their duties, which contributes to why veterans succumb to suicide.
It is no surprise that, for decades, veterans have succumbed to suicide at the horrifying rate of up to 22 a day at its highest. That’s 6,500 to 8,000 veterans’ deaths each year, year after year. Channel 4 News reported in 2018, “Nevada ranks 4th in the nation for overall suicide rates and 6th in the nation for veteran suicide rates.”
Like your freedom? Then actively support veterans.
Support veterans by voting for politicians who vote for 100% funding of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Congress has chronically underfunded the department.
Support veterans by voting for politicians who vote for 100% funding of the Nevada Department of Veterans Services (NDVS). The Nevada Legislature has chronically underfunded the department.
Twenty-nine states have county veterans service offices. In 160-plus years, Nevada is not one of them. Support veterans by voting for politicians who vote for 100% funding of a Washoe County Veterans Service Office.
Support veterans by voting for Nevada city politicians who vote for 100% funding of a city Veterans Service Office. There is no city Veterans Service Office in Nevada.
Instead of cruelly and callously complaining to code enforcement about that disabled or elderly veteran that the veteran’s sidewalk is not snow shoveled, or the veteran’s front yard has weeds, or the home is in need of repair or maintenance, or other code violations, go help that veteran. City and county employees who receive those complaints should go help that veteran.
Pamela Baker is a disabled U.S. Air Force Vietnam war veteran, a former professor with five degrees, a philanthropist to veterans, and a civil rights activist.