my 116th ltte-thanksgiving and supporting our returning vets

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2007/11/26/dailylight/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter1.txt
To the Editor,

On this Thanksgiving holiday,we often reflect on what we are grateful for. I am grateful for my beautiful children, my job,and to have a roof over my head. As I reflect, I am bothered by a large segment of the population who do not have this.

The most recent figures from the Veterans’ Administration reveal 25 percent of homeless in America are veterans. This alone is a tragedy, but consider an even larger problem. According to recent studies, 125 veterans commit suicide on any given week. This number is twice the national average as a whole. When you narrow it to Iraq War veterans, it becomes three times the national average.

There is an ENORMOUS need for Veterans’ Assistance Centers throughout Texas. Right now, the only centers are in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston and El Paso. This leaves a huge portion of the veteran population underserved. As a member of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, I have been lobbying to have a Veterans’ Service Center in all cities with a recruitment office. These centers would have a Veteran counselor to deal with the psychological and transitional issues that our military face when they assume a veteran role. The centers would also have a nurse practitioner or physician assistant with prescriptive authority to hopefully reduce some of the congestion at the medical centers and encourage medication compliance. One month of the War in Iraq would fund these centers nationwide for a year. Are our veterans worth any less?

Hug your family and be grateful for your blessings. Tomorrow, write your representatives and demand they care for all our veterans.

[unhappycamper]

1. Excellent.

Thank you. :thumbsup: