A letter by army veteran Mark Birden deserves a reply.
A recent edition carries a message by Birden saying we don't treat our military veterans well. Like him, I'm a veteran, having spent nearly five years on active duty and several more in the Army Reserve. I also spent time in Vietnam and received a direct commission during my active-duty years. I spent time in a series of classified jobs both in Southeast Asia and on domestic assignments.
I disagree with him.
Some American veterans, it's true, deserve more than they're receiving. But not all. Many spent a minimum amount of time in uniform and never came under fire. In fact, relatively few people spent their military service in combat. And many more were cooks and clerks and held other noncombat jobs.
As veterans, they too deserve honor and recognition. But combat vets deserve more. They deserve to go to the front of the line when it comes to most VA services. Yet all veterans seem to be treated equally.
My father survived World War II. He was wounded in France and — like millions of others — saw things no one should have to see. His wounds were both external and internal (what we'd now call PTSD), but he never received treatment for the hidden ones. Nor did most World War II combat vets. And that's always bothered me.
It's time to balance things. Survivors of combat deserve more than those who never saw combat and those who never left the safety of the United States.
RUSS WISE
LaPlace