This week, as a nation we honor our Veterans of the past and present, and remember the sacrifices made by soldiers and families across the States. Veterans Day has been celebrated for ninety years now as a Federal holiday with banks, schools, and government offices taking the day off in remembrance. Last Friday, it was observed here in our own backyard, at UCLA with ceremonies including a thunderous F-16 flyover and patriotic performances. However is a single day filled with gallantry parades, ornate ceremonies and decorous soldiers enough appreciation and activism to honor a disenfranchised group of American Heroes.
The majority soldiers of today are recruited from within poor minority communities, with promises of valor, glory and financial stability, much like the heavy Chicano drafting done during the Vietnam War with promises of citizenship. Often time’s soldiers are deployed for well beyond their initial agreements or have consecutive tours of duties. No matter how you feel about the wars, across America hundreds upon hundreds of G.I.s are coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan and many of them are unable to acquire the medical treatment necessary for physical and physiological rehabilitation including the all too common post-traumatic stress disorder.
On this day of remembrance, let us not only honor our veterans with ceremonies and parades, but also lay the foundations of compassion and empathy In building of new and improving old specialized veteran clinics and hospitals, creating an organized infrastructure and ridding of the excessive bureaucracies. It is only then that we truly honor their sacrifices and let our actions speak louder than our words of a single day.
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