CITIZENS NEED TO STAND UP FOR VETERANS

SYMPTOM OF DETERIORATION IN AMERICA:  LACK OF SUPPORT TO VETERANS

If I were in DC as a Senator, I would introduce a bill to take care of this problem of honoring our flag but more so to honor the veterans.  The story of a Medal of Honor Veteran fighting to fly his flag on a flag pole that puts our flag on display in an honorable manner got to me today and so I struggle to put in words a message today, my opinion as a fellow veteran and citizen.  Any veteran that has been awarded the Medal of Honor or for that matter any medal that signified a veteran did his duty in an exceptionable manner, should have the freedom to erect a flagpole and for that matter maybe the government should even foot the bill for the flag pole!  Our veterans are not honored enough!  The veteran that served is in the minority in this country and every citizen needs to listen and hear the veterans always!  Everyday citizens needs to answer the call to support the men and women who has worn the uniform and answered the call.

Too few citizens really know and even strive to learn about veterans and their needs.  Citizens should think about this deep and hard.  You have heard of veterans in your community as they fight their own government to get the needed help after they have served.  The veterans that served that have experienced the wars and come home ill.  Not just the ones with physical injuries that are seen but the ones that are not. 

PTSD and suicides get your attention.  But do you know about the health effects suffered by exposures to toxins, be it mustard gas in World War I, the radiation effects of the atomic veterans, the Agent Orange-Dioxin exposures to our Vietnam Veterans, the exposures to a slew of a witches toxin in the First Gulf War, the veterans exposed to carcinogens in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and veterans like those from a Charleston C-141 unit that were exposed to toxins as they flew man day support for Operation Desert Storm(Gulf War 1990), the Shad personnel that were ill, and the ones that were used as test subjects here at home?  A lot of citizens have read and heard the news but seldom are the ones to stand up for their fellow citizens that did serve and experienced adverse health effects. 

These citizens do not understand that the benefits of health care and compensation for these veterans are EARNED BENEFITS for these veterans service to each and every citizen of this country.  If you asked one of these citizens would they have any understanding of the years long battle that each of these veterans battle quietly to get the health care and benefits they earned while the quality of their lives have been impacted to cause early health problems in their lives that they would not have had if they had not stood up to wear the uniform? 

These veterans were in better shape than the majority of their fellow citizens when they took the oath and went forth to serve you!  These veterans were well educated and functioned at the highest level of executive type functioning, they multi functioned better than the 90% of every day citizens because they are called to do that!  From the pilots, to the loadmasters, to the flight nurses and our medical technicians that provide the urgent medical care to save the troops that are injuried, to the infantry soldier protecting each other in battle against an enemy be it World War I to our current wars, to the commander of each battalion, squadron or brigade or company that lead, strategize and provide support for their soldiers, to the Marines that always have to be in the lead in the worse of the worse conflicts, and to the navy seaman providing support to keep our ships operational and projecting the force that is needed for those on the ground each and every one of them functioning at the highest mental capabilities ever possible and above the average citizen’s.  These veterans in the highest physical, mental, and intellectually shape stepped forward to do complex and demanding duty for their country. 

The majority of citizens do not comprehend fully of what that truly involves.

These people, these veterans,that have families that are directly affected by the job they do for every citizen.  The jobs they do impact the veterans health, these veterans will suffer quietly the impact on their health, their families struggle to support their battle for health care and benefits that affect the veteran and the family members, these veterans that would have lived longer if they had not done the utmost for their fellow citizens in answering the call to duty.  Yes they die sooner!

Citizens of America, you stand quietly by and do little to help.  This is the deterioration in our country.

Very few citizens ever organize to do what is right and stand up for their veterans!  Where are the everyday citizens in that Medal Of Honor Recipient’s community, are they going out and holding a vigil of support?  Are they standing by this man of exceptional honor showing his pride for his country?

The story of the flag pole being fought for by one of the few Medal Of Honor Recipents of this country is just a symptom of the lack of recognition or understanding by fellow citizens of this country!

The news story of this WWII Medal of Honor Recipient follows:

WWII veteran fights homeowners group over flagpole

 Medal of Honor recipient Col. Van T. Barfoot, 90, lowers the flag outside his home in the Sussex Square subdivision in western Henrico County, Va., on Wednesday. According to the subdivision’s homeowner association’s board, Col. Barfoot is in violation because he flies the flag from a flagpole instead of a pole attached to his porch or doorway. Col. Barfoot has been ordered to remove the pole by 5pm on Friday or face legal action.
RICHMOND, Va. — One of the nation’s oldest Medal of Honor winners was back in the fight Thursday, this time against a neighborhood association that wants him to take down a front-yard flagpole.

Supporters, including a U.S. senator, have been falling in behind 90-year-old retired Army Col. Van T. Barfoot, a World War II veteran awarded the lofty Congressional honor for actions including standing up to three German tanks with a bazooka and stopping their advance.

Barfoot put up the 21-foot flagpole in September in front of his suburban Richmond home. He raises the American flag daily at sunrise and retires it at sunset.

"It’s really ridiculous to want to keep the flag from being flown," he said in a telephone interview. "I’ve heard some terrible excuses out there."

The Sussex Square homeowners’ association says the flagpole violates the neighborhood’s aesthetic guidelines. It originally ordered him to remove it by 5 p.m. Friday or face a lawsuit, but on Thursday it pushed back the deadline until Dec. 11.

The group has said Barfoot can display the flag, as long as it’s in a way that conforms with association rules, such as from a pole mounted on the front of the house.

"This is not about the American flag. This is about a flagpole," the association said in a statement.

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., is among those offering to help break the impasse, Warner spokesman Kevin Hall said. On Thursday, the homeowners association voted unanimously to ask Warner’s office to attempt to reach a compromise in the dispute.

"We intend to get to work right away to try to come up with a solution that’s acceptable to both Col. Barfoot and to the homeowner’s association," Hall said in an e-mail.

Warner and the war hero became acquainted at veterans’ events when Warner was Virginia’s governor from 2002-06. Others are backing Barfoot on the Internet, including with a Facebook page.

Barfoot won the Medal of Honor for actions while his platoon was under German assault near Carano, Italy, in May 1944. The award citation says Barfoot, then a 2nd lieutenant, crept up alone on German machine gun nests, killing and capturing enemy troops in three of them, stopped their three-tank advance and helped two seriously wounded comrades back to safety.

He also won the Purple Heart and other decorations, and served in Korea and Vietnam before retiring from the service in 1974. The Sitter & Barfoot Veterans Care Center, a state nursing home for military retirees in Richmond, bears his name.

Barfoot’s daughter, Margaret Nicholls, said her father has been moved to tears by the outpouring of support, and hopes the nine-member homeowners’ board will use its discretion and let him keep the pole.

"A house-mounted pole? That is not an option," Nicholls said. "The flagpole is definitely what he’s fighting for."