Soap Box

I know Veterans Day has come and gone but I wanted to devote another column to our veterans, as it is my belief that we can never say enough or do enough for the people who have laid their lives on the line to keep America free, the ones who have, the ones who are and the ones who will in the future.

It seems that during the Obama administration the military services took a back seat at the table, their advice on Iraq, a war they had shed a lot of blood to win, was not heeded or even taken into consideration as a �give peace a chance� president followed his own passive instincts, pulled the troops out and gave rise to ISIS, providing our military with another unneeded and dangerous enemy.

Veterans returning from their service found a Veterans Administration that was just that, long on administrating and short on following through with the medical treatment they needed.

The government that had sent them off to war had allowed incompetence and bureaucratic red tape to create long waiting lists and inadequate services, resulting in much suffering and in some instances, death.

There is some disagreement about the number of daily veteran suicides, as the VA does not classify drug overdoses and some other causes of death as suicide, but sources I trust place the number at 22 per day.

Now let�s take this out of the statistical realm for a moment and reduce it to humanity. Imagine that 22 men and women who have served in our military are taking their lives every day. There have to be reasons and there should be an all-out effort on the part of the federal government to find out what they are.

The American media should be all over this story, with investigative reporters, exposing the sordid fact, pressuring government agencies to find the answers, but it seems that the sexual escapades of the Hollywood crowd deserve more space than the reasons that are driving 22 veterans a day to take their own lives.

The needs of our veterans are diverse and many and the job, to a big extent, is being done, not by government, but by private citizens and non-governmental veterans organizations, educating, counseling, sheltering, providing job placement and just being there with a shoulder to lean on.

Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee has opened an on-campus Veterans Center, with state of the art teleconferencing facilities, access to mental health specialists, job placement and a place for the student veteran population to come together with like-minded brothers and sisters who have gone through the same experiences and have the same interests.

The University of Tennessee is in the process of opening their own veterans center and all of us who support our veterans are in high hopes that many other colleges around the nation will participate in providing their own student veterans with a such a facility.

The worth and effect of these on campus centers have been proven many times over, proven by positive results.

And how can a nation devote resources to illegal aliens and refugees when so many of those who risked their lives for us are living on the streets, homeless.

Remember this, America, and I am repeating myself for probably the thousandth time.

Only two things protect America.

The grace of Almighty God and the United States Military.

I never served in the military, but nobody has greater respect, admiration and a sincerer sense of gratitude than I do.

So, at this time that we set aside to honor our veterans, let me express my most profound appreciation to anybody who has ever donned that uniform, you�re all heroes to me.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, our police, and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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