"NFL football players are disrespecting our military by taking a knee."
To all of you repeating that tired line, here’s a little wake up call for you. You want to know what is disrespectful to our veterans?
- Military service men and women returning home from duty with lost limbs, chronic health conditions, and mental health conditions (such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD) and being unable to access essential medical care from Veterans' Affairs because politicians (and by extension, the people that elect them) vote to gut the largest provider of medical care for veterans instead of implementing policy to fix the long waiting times to see healthcare providers and subpar administrative duties. Approximately 20% of servicemen and women return home with PTSD and the problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the VA has no policies or resources in place to ensure proper training of community mental health professionals to address veteran’s health issues. Amputation rates go as high as 58 per 100,000 troops for the Iraq War and 120.8 per 100,000 troops from the war in Afghanistan, according to a 2014 study released by the Congressional Budget Office. These numbers also don’t take into account the vast number of injuries sustained in combat that are left untreated when veterans return. It’s a major problem.
- Veterans returning home from active duty only to find that their house has been illegally foreclosed by unscrupulous banks and banking agencies while the politicians (the people who are supposed to be looking out for them by passing policy to prevent this exact sort of thing) do nothing to protect them. Instead, they shrug their shoulders and say "That's just business."
- A guy that has the audacity to dictate what is and what isn’t patriotic. This is all despite the fact that said individual dodged the draft a total of five times, insulted a Gold Star family mother who lost her son in combat, denigrated a Prisoner of War, called for a foreign enemy power to hack his political opponent, and referred to Nazis back in Charlottesville, Virginia as “fine people.”
- Bringing them up in conversation only to score political points against the "other side." It seems outrage over disrespect of our veterans comes up only when the "other side" is doing something we don't like and then the topic of veterans disappears from public debate until the next insignificant or petty outrage appears in public life.
If you're outraged over the disrespect of our veterans, do something more than just putting a damn "I support our troops" bumper sticker on your car or posting nonsense Facebook tantrums over something that is constitutionally protected free speech. Call up your politicians and demand that they implement policies that benefit our armed servicemen and women. Make a stink at town halls directly in the face of your Congressman/woman about the struggles of veterans transitioning back into civilian life. Educate yourself on the economic and medical struggles of veterans transitioning into civilian life. Get involved with veterans' organizations like VFW, the Veterans Benefits Administration, or any other veterans' advocacy group that works to help veterans get back up on their feet. Otherwise, shut the hell up now and forever about how veterans are disrespected by someone quietly taking a knee expressing their right to free speech (i.e. the same rights and ideals our veterans fight for and protect when they go abroad).