Help for Veterans

"Here the price of freedom is visible!"

This is the sign at the Hampton VA Hospital permanent living ward.  This is where you can see the cost of freedom on our Vets.  I consider myself lucky not to be in that place or a similar place.  Everyone of us that has been in the belly of the beast was only a hair away from being there.  Many of us have been shot, blown up, and damn near killed.

Some say this nation does not do enough for our Vets.  I call BS at this.  If you just do a search for veteran services or non-profit organizations, there are a ton.  The biggest disconnect from those services is the education process.  They do not do enough to educate Veterans on the benefits / services available to us.  I thought for a long time that because my discharge was characterized "Other than Honorable", that I was ineligible for everything and this just is not true.  It took being in prison and actually sitting down and reading through the VA Handbook for benefits to discover I was eligible for almost every benefit out there.

I think the other thing that hampers many Veterans is there pride.  This was my problem for a long time.  I felt if I asked for help I was less of a man.  This simply is not true.  As a whole, us Veterans need to set aside our pride and ask for help.

My opinions on things often make me unpopular.  For example, while in jail and prison I constantly heard people say how terrible Jacksonville cops were, how terrible VA Beach cops were, how bad the court system was.  I looked at this as people not taking personal responsibilities for their actions.  The same is true of Veterans.  As I sat in orientation last night, one of the Vets who had been here before said this place does not do enough for you.  I believe in places like this, you only get out of it what you put into it.  If you do not have the personal responsibility to make sure you are getting the service you need, then shame on you.  It's the same as being active duty and dealing with the administration department who deals with your pay.  You can not expect that guy / gal behind the desk to take care of your needs.  You have to stay on top of them all the time.  They deal with multitudes of people everyday...what makes you special.

You know the judge told me not long ago..."this country owes you a debt of gratitude, but this court does not owe you anything".  Those were powerful words to me.