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Their commitment, our commitment

As our legislative bodies debate and determine the fate of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is easy to depersonalize the discussion. “They” need more body armor, “they” need fewer rotations and more rest, “they” are separated from their families.

The fact is, “they” are everyday people who share many of the common dreams and aspirations of millions of Americans who benefit from the protections they provide for our freedom. Many times, though, the scars of war are deep, often psychological, and it is easy to write them off once “they” have returned home.

President Lincoln said that in war we must “bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” Entangled in a deadly Civil War, Lincoln communicated the enduring commitment we have to the men and women who voluntarily serve this country, standing in harm’s way throughout the world for our benefit.

To ensure that generations of youth aspire to serve this nation, we must ensure that when they are activated or return home, we are reminded of our obligation to them and their families.

That obligation is not in a segment on the evening news highlighting the service of our troops. It is an ongoing state, local and federal initiative to make citizens aware and conscious of the commitment we have to help veterans who have been injured, have difficulty with transitioning to civilian life, live in single-parent households in our communities and who may need financial assistance.

Our nation has recognized this obligation to service members from past wars. Our federal government, through the GI Bill, has offered educational assistance to our veterans when they returned home. In 1985, the Montgomery GI Bill extended benefits to service members during peacetime. This represents a real and sometimes singular path for many Americans to achieve a greater standard of living.

This year, some members of Congress have proposed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007 to expand educational benefits, including extending the period of time veterans may exercise those benefits.

While these and other federal programs are important to ensuring that veterans are cared for when they return from war, focusing only on national responsibility fails to acknowledge the importance of state and local efforts.

Congressional legislators evaluate, and rightly so, the weaknesses at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but improvements there fail to serve the veteran who lives in Buies Creek, N.C., who needs to travel to Washington, D.C., to get the care he needs. Clearly, Duke University Medical Center has exemplary services, as do other local and regional care centers. But the state and local efforts have failed to address these growing issues of providing stability and flexibility in ongoing health care.

Ensuring that care not only improves the health of the veteran, it allows families to have a stable home environment and minimizes the impact on spouses’ employment.

Local and regional medical centers should work with the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs to develop new methods to serve disabled veterans in their local communities.

Even for veterans who aren’t suffering from health problems, the transition from military life to civilian life is often difficult, for several reasons. They receive assistance, for example, from Veterans Affairs with home loan guaranties, yet local municipalities should look to their tax codes to foster the movement of veterans into their communities and reduce veterans’ tax burdens, which are often overwhelming for newly retired or discharged vets who have yet to get a solid job opportunity.

Activated reserve and National Guard members should be offered tax holidays to ensure that financial burdens do not become overwhelming. Other services should be offered to veterans to ensure they get a foothold in the society they fought to protect, such as local transportation, discounts at state parks, promotion of health care including Tricare through local hospitals and attending physicians, and other state and local incentives.

But many of these changes can come only through the participation of veterans in their state and local communities, town boards and municipalities. Many people are not fully aware of the issues of post-traumatic stress disorder, mental illnesses, traumatic brain injury, homelessness, mobilization stress on families, financial hardships, and reduced pay or potential layoffs by employers and much more.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that veterans already get enough benefits, and structures already exist to meet their needs. This is a dangerous position.

In reality, we see new types of injuries and other effects of this war, such as large numbers of amputees, long-term brain injuries, mental illness and domestic violence.

In addition, we have a large-scale call-up of National Guard and reserve service members, and many have little or no military structure in their communities. There are few, if any, resources to meet their needs. Outreach and assistance is vital to ensure these families remain stable.

Some would try to politicize this issue. The support of veterans and care for the wounded should be a nonpartisan effort. It is a cornerstone of a democracy, and the way U.S. citizens treat their service members sends a message to other democratic countries and countries struggling to become democracies.

All Americans have an obligation to provide care for our service members and their families. This is not only a national issue, but one of state and local importance.

We must set an example for our children that we will not neglect or ignore the needs of the men and women of our armed forces. If we do, we risk our future and that of our children.