Blog

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day in 1919. The Allies signed an armistice, temporary peace agreement, with Germany that effectively ended WWI. The armistice took effect at 11:00 am on the 11th day of the eleventh month of 1918. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th, 1919, the first Armistice Day. Armistice Day became a federal holiday in 1938. President Dwight Eisenhower, in 1954, signed legislation that changed the name of the holiday to Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day honors our veterans and all active duty military personnel.

The United States has been involved in something like 11 significant wars beginning with the Revolutionary War. Between 1 and 1.5 million American soldiers have died during those conflicts. (We honor our heroes who are no longer with us on Memorial Day). The number of soldiers disabled in those wars is certainly a large multiple of that. The U.S. Census’ American Community Survey estimates the U.S. has approximately 18.5 million veterans. The Veterans Administration says the number is slightly higher. There is another 2.1 million active service personnel around the world. That means on this Veteran’s Day we honor between 20 and 22 million men and women for their selfless service to our country. Let’s not forget one last fact. Since 1973 every member of our Armed Forces is a volunteer! They signed up knowing they might be asked to pay the ultimate price in order to keep us free. We must do everything we can to honor, and care for, our American heroes.

There are a few things we should be doing for our military and our vets. It is estimated there were about 40,000 homeless veterans living on America’s streets. They represent about 11% of the entire homeless population. This is shameful, especially in light of the trillions of dollars of spending passed by Congress just this year. No money, not one dollar, should be allocated to any project until/unless we do everything we can to get our heroes off the streets. Here’s one simple idea that could solve a number of existing problems.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is responsible for managing approximately 77,000 empty buildings owned by the federal government. They say approximately because they aren’t real sure. The GSA estimates the costs to maintain these buildings at between $1.5 and $2 billion a year. Here’s an idea. Suppose we sell a few of those vacant buildings and place the proceeds into a trust fund. (We’d have to put some Marines in charge of the account so that greedy congressional thieves couldn’t abscond with it). Those funds would then be designated for the refurbishment of other empty buildings that would house homeless veterans. There is no doubt we could find successful, wealthy, patriotic, businessmen(women) who are veterans to oversee the refurbishment work at cost. We might find that, for those who are capable, new meaning could be added to their lives by including them on the construction crews. This idea puts empty federal buildings to good use. It also eliminates the annual maintenance fees on those buildings. It could potentially employ currently unemployed homeless vets. Most important, it takes our homeless heroes off the streets and puts a roof over their heads. It gets them out of the elements and helps keep them safe. I am but one man with an idea. One would think the combined brainpower of 535 members of Congress could put a plan like this in motion. Or come up with their own, better idea. All that is necessary is the will to do what is right. Our veterans deserve nothing less.

The rigors of military life can only be imagined by those of us who have not served. I can’t imagine the stress of being deployed to a war zone. One thing we could all do to help those deployed overseas is to send a regular gift package with badly needed items. Things you could include are toothbrushes, soaps, baby powder, chap stick, sun block, t-shirts, underwear, and socks. Favorite snacks are, I imagine, always welcome. If you have a relative or friend who is deployed you already know their address, and how to send such packages. Surprise them. The rest of us will have to find a deserving recipient by asking friends, or contacting military bases. So let’s commit to forming into little groups of 6 or 8 and putt together a package to send to members of our military who are deployed away from home. Let’s do that every month, or two. It will take a little work and organizing. It is miniscule when compared to the sacrifices made by our young service members. These young men and women are frequently separated from their families for extended periods of time. Not one of them has sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars because of those separations.

Finally, please take the time to say thank you wherever you see a veteran, or current member of our military. If you are like me you are grateful for the blessing of living in the greatest nation on earth. The USA is the greatest nation on earth because of the willingness of young men and women who continue to put themselves in harms way so that we might remain free. On this Veteran’s Day, and every other day of the year, we thank you for your service, and your sacrifices. God bless you and your families.

I hope you found this post interesting and informative. I also hope it inspires you to start a group to send packages to our service members. Thank you, Bob