Soap Box

Although there is some disparagement of opinion in the exact number, there is unanimity among everybody that the number of American veterans who commit suicide every day is a travesty, totally unacceptable and needs desperate and immediate attention by the Veterans Administration and every other government entity that could possibly be of help.

The numbers are truly heart breaking, 20 to 22 veterans take their lives every day and the media pays more attention to how many four-letter words were said at the women's march on Washington than they do this catastrophic loss of some of America's finest and most loyal young people.

Congress discusses the trivial and wastes the taxpayers� money on meaningless drivel and are quick to take up the cause of transgender restrooms or bringing poorly vetted groups of refugees into the country, but not one politician has emerged to champion the prevention of veteran suicide.

After decades of being around veterans from several wars, I have come to the rock-solid conclusion that there is no way for a civilian to put themselves into the shoes of a soldier who has served in a combat capacity. I don't think anyone understands except the ones who have experienced war first hand.

We can't possibly understand the pressures, the loneliness, the isolation and the trauma our troops go through and how different it is for them to suddenly walk back into a society that is totally incapable of any kind of affinity or comprehension and how truly alone they must feel.

Please don't get me wrong here, when I say society doesn't understand I include myself. I have never served in the military and, though I have many close associations with those who have, I can by no means understand what drives a person to the edge, where they feel as if they can't stand one more minute of life and ends it all.

I only know that the numbers of veterans who choose to put a permanent end to what should be a temporary problem are heartbreaking and should have been addressed by the powers that be a long time ago.

Whose job is it to address it?

From my point of view, it is the job, no, the obligation of the government who sent them off to war to make veteran suicide a top priority, devote whatever resources and personnel it takes to find a solution, and I believe there are solutions to be found.

This is not a new problem and a concerted effort is long overdue.

There are a lot of devoted medical professionals in the VA, dedicated people who feel their goal in life is to deliver the very best medical treatment available to the men and women who serve in our nation's military.

But - as in the case of any bureaucracy - it is bogged down with career bureaucrats, bean-counters and politically affiliated employees who are more bent on upward mobility than reaching out and efficiently delivering the health care our veterans so desperately need.

We've all heard the stories, veterans with serious conditions put on months long waiting lists, the wasting of one hundred million taxpayer dollars on art to decorate facilities where veterans are dying because of neglect.

I hope and pray that President Trump will be as good as his word, he has promised to take care of our vets and drain the swamp.

In my book, you can't do one without the other.

What do you think?

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

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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