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Veterans Day.

For me, the “ramp-up” to Veterans Day starts around August.

I’m a pretty loud voice in the Veterans Community, and so groups are always asking me to come speak at their Veterans Day luncheon, support their Veterans Day event, listen to their Veteran’s Day Speech, or ride with their group in the Veterans Day parade.

I say “No” to 100% of these events.

Frankly, I have always hated parades, especially when I was in the military.

Why I Don’t Attend Veterans Day Functions.

I am not a cynical man, I promise.   But the answer I’m about to give you will make me sound very cynical. And it also makes me very, very unpopular:

Far too many Veterans Day events feel – to me –  like grown up kids playing with toy soldiers.

Far too often, the groups that are hosting the Veterans Day event, or parade, or speech, or luncheon or dinner are really just promoting the person or group holding the function.

I used to attend Veterans Day events.

Invariably, I would walk away deeply disappointed to realize that the next day, nothing happened.  After all the speeches, bombast, back-slapping and hand-shaking on Veterans Day, that was all we Veterans were going to get in terms of support from the majority of Americans, businesses and politicians: 1 day of their year to talking about the “nice” and “shiny” parts of military service, that often ignored the other 364 days of sacrifice that most Veterans continue to make.

You’ve heard this stuff before – in fact, many Americans are numb to it.

* 22 Veterans a day commit suicide.

* Far too many Veterans are homeless.

* Veterans battle drug addictions and substance abuse at record numbers

* Veterans have substantial medical problem preventing them from adequate reintegration into civilian life.

Military Service – especially during times of war – is  quite often not a resume builder.

Military Service is a life-changer.  In some ways, it has changed my own life for the better. In some ways, not so much.  Overall, I don’t regret my military service and with 10 years of hindsight on it, I realize that what I am today I owe to my time in the Army.

But that is not the case for everyone.  Many of our brothers and sisters in arms are broken and damaged men and women that desperately need a leg – or a hand – up.  Strong people? Yes.  Fierce and Courageous people? Absolutely.  But, as I’ve said before, Veterans are not Super-heroes.

Take 12 minutes, and please watch this video:

[youtube id=”oSWhIUiGang” width=”550″ height=”310″]

 Most young Americans that go off to fight or serve do not realize that it can be damn near impossible to rebuild their family after combat, no less find meaningful work. I know of only a small handful of Veterans who had the wherewithal to pick up their lives where they left off when they returned.

But so few serve anymore – less than 1% of Americans served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The group of people who stood up and answer the call to war are largely forgotten by those who stayed home for 364 days out of the year.

Frankly, I would trade every single parade at Veterans Day from this day to the end of my life for one law that grants service connection to the soldiers and families who were stationed at Camp Lejeune and whose lives – and whose children’s lives – were forever changed by the poisoned water there.

I would gladly trade every “Honor a Veteran” luncheon for a Congressional bill mandating sweeping change in the VA Claims appeal process, to enable Veterans to recover the benefits that they need to stabilize after combat and reintegrate into their civilian lives.

 

Several Years Ago, I Stopped Telling Veterans “Thank You For Your Service”.  

I stopped going to Veterans Day functions.

Instead, I began my own tradition.

The first part is that I spend Veterans Day quietly – on my own, in my own way.

A day of reflection, if you will. I shun the parades and luncheons.

I remember the friends and family members and clients that served and who are no longer with us or who I have long since lost touch with. I reflect on what I have done in the past year to improve the situation of the Veterans community as a whole – and where I have fallen short.

And, typically, I make 3 commitments to improve the Veterans Community as a whole.

This blog is a product of one of those Veterans Day Commitments. It has grown from a small little blog talking about Veterans law back in 2007, to the largest blog written by an attorney for Veterans in the nation.

The Attig Law Firm is a product of those Veterans Day Commitments.   It has grown from a single lawyer, practicing out of the spare room he built in his garage to several employees pushing and striving to change the way hundreds – and thousands – of Veterans experience the VA Claims Process.

The decision to give 10% of my firm’s net profits in support of those organizations that do REAL work on the ground for Veterans every day is a product of those Veterans Day Commitments. Someday we will give far more than 10%, but the other 90% of our net revenue goes back into growing the business and fulfilling my Vision of a different kind of law firm that gives a Voice to Veterans.

These aren’t the only commitments I’ve made: some are personal, some are private.

Some take longer than a year.  Changing the Way Veterans Experience the VA Claims Process, for example,  is about more than just building an efficient law firm that strives to work together with the good and decent people in the VA.

It’s about something much, much bigger, and, like the California Redwoods, will take time to grow into something big and bold and strong.

Today, as I’m out on my own, reflecting and remembering in my own personal way, I leave you with this thought.

How Can YOU be of Service to the Veterans Community in the Next Year?  

In the coming year, what business can you create to serve and support Veterans, or to facilitate their reintegration?

(Unlike a number of my brothers and sisters in arms, I believe that it is okay to make a living helping our fellow Veterans….I do not believe that service to the Veterans community requires adopting a life of monastic poverty and the abandonment of  the capitalist system many of us served to defend.)

How can your voice help our brother and sister Veterans the other 364 days a year?

Can silencing a part of your voice  and letting go of a personal prejudice – the mockery of female or gay veterans or Veterans that are having a harder time than you – serve to promote the general welfare of the Veteran Community?

What legislation can you propose, lobby for, and pass that will change the way Veterans Experience the VA Claims Process?

Because I’m here to tell you folks – if we wait for folks outside the Veterans Community to pave a smoother road to reintegration, we are going to be stuck in traffic for a very, very long time.

 

6 Comments

  1. Renzo

    Chris, thanks for expressing so well the opinion of myself and probably many others. Can you please share with your readers the names of the Organizations that you feel are worthy of our support?

    Reply
    • Chris Attig

      I don’t often endorse organizations on the Veterans Law Blog…I want my “endorsement” to MEAN something.

      Here is the one Veterans Organization that I will never hesitate to recommend and support: Heroes on the Water. I know MANY Veterans who – after 1 day on the water with the Veterans in this group – have been born again into a post-combat life.

      Check ’em out…support them. They need people with TIME to give more than they need people with MONEY to give.

      Chris

      Reply
  2. WILLIAM HARMAN

    AFTER READING YOUR COMMENTS I HAD TEARS IN MY EYES. HONEST! MY FATHER WAS A 35 YEAR ARMY VETERAN WHO SERVED IN WWII AND KOREA, PURPLE HEART BOTH TIMES, YET HE DIED SOON AFTER RETIREMENT IN AN ARMY HOSPITAL DUE TO AN “ACCIDENT” CAUSED BY SOMEONE WHO ONLY CARED ABOUT THEIR PAYCHECK. IN SPITE OF MY SERVICE IN AF, THAILAND AND VIETNAM, I FIND IT VERY HARD TO “CELEBRATE” VETS DAY. INSTEAD I STAY AT HOME AND WATCH ALL THE PHONY STUFF ON TV. IT USUALLY MAKES ME VERY ANGRY SO I STAY AT HOME SO I WON’T BE TEMPTED TO YELL AT SOMEONE WHO HAS NO HOPE OF UNDERSTANDING THE FRUSTRATION IN MY YELL. THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DO FOR VETERANS!!

    Reply
    • Chris Attig

      William,

      Thanks for sharing. I know the struggles you face, and appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts/feelings here.

      Chris

      Reply
  3. Don

    Thanks for taking the time to share your purpose driven life with us. I can certainly empathize with your reasons for not taking any speaking engagements on Veterans Day, and your feelings in general about the holiday. For some of us it is the only recognition we get AT ALL. And for the nation, it IS a reminder and an opportunity to say “Thank you” publicly as a nation to our veterans. So I won’t throw the baby out with the bath water. I don’t go to the parades either. Too much trouble. But for 27 years I was silent about even being a Vietnam Veteran, and I am sure you know why. When, one Sunday in 1994, at church the Pastor asked all Vietnam Veterans to stand while he apologized on behalf of his congregation and the nation for ignoring us for so many years, and offfered a simple “Thank you”, it broke my heart. It was the first time in my life and since 1967 when I returned from Vietnam that ANYONE had ever said “Thank you” or ANYTHING nice at all to me regarding my 13 months on the ground.

    I guess I am saying that while there IS much to be done to improve the response of the people of our nation to the vets who have served and who are serving, any recognition is better than none.

    For over 40 years I had more mental problems than I care to admit. And I had no clue why I lost jobs, friends, the support of family members, marriages,my own children, and as a consequence of all of my cumulative failures in life and relationships I tried to take my life in 2007 at 60 years of age. Had the cable not broken after I had lost conscioiusness and was hanging from the bar in my garage, I would be dead today.

    Instead I was admitted to the psychiatric hospital near my home and some months later was diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder. I am finally getting some understanding regarding all of the mental, emotional, and relationship difficulties I have experienced since returning as a 20 year old Marine in 1967. And yes, I was also stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC in 1966 before being shipped to Vietnam. I was there for 7 months. No one cared to telll me anything at all about the “bad water” until I ran into another vet at Home Depot just 4 months ago, and we started chatting about the Marines in General and places we were stationed.

    I am living with post CABG triple bypass and Coronary Artery Disease, un-united rib pain, PTST and Major Depressive Disorder, prostate issues, residuals from my surgery, and most recently diagnosed with SEVERE Obstructive Sleep apnea which has some, although God only knows what, relationship to just about every other problem I have. And I have the VA to look to for help. And the VA, instead of preesnting to me as a Government Program to help, presents to me as a “formidable” opposing force whom I must overcome to receive the benefits I am supposed to be entitled to.

    Sometimes it is still a bit overwhelming. I can understand why 22 veterans commit suicide each day. Seriously.

    Reply
    • Chris Attig

      Don – thank you for sharing that powerful message.

      One phrase that jumped out at me was that the VA presents as “a formidable opposing force whom I must overcome”. It is my bigger and broader vision that someday that will change.

      Chris

      Reply

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