Salt & Battery Comics

An important issue that hits particularly close to home with me is one I also feel doesn’t get enough of the right kind of attention these days; what do we do with all the soldiers coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? As some of you know, my brother has been in the Army for the last five years of his life and will (thankfully) be returning home after all this time, much to the relief of our entire family. Out of respect for my brother’s privacy, I’m not going to use this space to talk about him without his permission – only to say that there have been a great many others who have not fared as well as he. Not discounting those who bravely gave their lives in the service of their nation, many solders have and continue to come home to families and friends without the tools and support to cope with the traumatic mental and physical strains suffered overseas. Many believe the military’s handling of the situation in terms of veterans’ support has been woefully inadequate, leaving our proud soldiers to deal with the effects of post traumatic stress and physical injuries on their own.

But in light of all this, there are some folks out there who aren’t content with the current state of affairs. Supportyourvet.org is just one of those groups of people who recognize these growing problems and aim to get help to those in need. The organization offers advice and community support for veterans who are suffering psychologically, provides information about using the GI Bill to get an education, and even helps families and friends of veterans to reconnect once the fighting is over.

If you keep up to date on your Comedy Central, you might remember a one Paul Rieckhoff of supportyourvet.org as a special guest on the Colbert Report (May 5, 2009). Especially poignant in the episode was that more needs to be done to support our vets beyond slapping $1.50 yellow magnets on our cars. With that, I’ll leave you with a video clip of that interview:

[edit: unfortunately, I suppose videos are only available on Hulu for 30 days :sad:]

If you are or know anyone in the service, give the site a visit. Once again in case you missed it: supportyourvet.org