Letters and comments for June 2, 2011

Respecting veterans

To the Editor:

Recently, as I sipped my coffee and flipped the TV to the morning talk shows, I was confronted with some stark statistics. Some of our senior generals and admirals reported, among others, the following numbers relating to today’s returning combat veterans:

• homeless 20 percent

• unemployed 40 percent

• brain injured (both physical and emotional) 65 percent.

As a combat veteran myself, I’m not surprised by these figures. For me, they are simply the realities of war and the cost that our brave young men and women pay in service to their county. Referring to the statistics above, I would urge employers to seek out financial incentives for hiring vets. You can find information and programs relating to hiring veterans at http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/vre/emp_resources.htm.

During Memorial Day weekend, I honored both the fallen and the survivors and I think back to Memorial Days spent in battle when, just for a moment, I reflected proudly and sadly on those who had died beside me and how I quickly returned to the business at hand.

I’m proud to live in a community that supports our troops with dignity year-round and not just on holidays and I feel equally blessed to have a satellite VA clinic staffed with hard-working people who care in our neighborhood. I’m especially pleased with the way that we, as a community, welcome our troops home and want express a heartfelt thanks to all of you for that.

In closing, I feel it important to state that these are the thoughts of one vet who speaks only for himself.

Rich Beedle

La Grande