How do we Reshape America’s Views of Veterans?

COL Mikel J. Burroughs — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 07:55:46 -0500

How do we Reshape America’s Views of Veterans?

RP Members what are your recommendations for reshaping the views on how America views veterans?

Fully realizing the benefits that vets can bring to civilian life means changing the distorted way they are perceived.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/reshaping-americas-views-of-veterans [login to see]

A newspaper writer laments: “On their return home after their long absence from society, and from industry, many of these brave men . . . find it difficult to get the opportunity at once to return to their old avocations. Their places in the workshops or elsewhere are filled up; and having but little money, and having lost to some extent the facility for securing employment or the friends who might have helped them to find it, they are greatly discouraged and disheartened, and their families suffer.”

Sound familiar? That’s the New York Times in June 1865. And yet here we are, 150 years on, with vets dying while waiting for medical care, 50,000 vets homeless, unemployment among post-9/11 vets consistently above the average, and just half of those who go to college actually finishing.

What we really most need is a long march through the institutions, to borrow a phrase. Send your kids to ROTC-friendly colleges. Don’t shell out for movies that offer a limited, fantasy view of the military. We must praise our vets’ service. But praise is easy. What’s hard is helping vets return to civilian life. That will happen when we recognize most aren’t Hollywood heroes or damaged goods, but civic assets.

Reshaping America’s Views of Veterans

In The Wall Street Journal, Bridgewater Associates President David McCormick writes about the need to reshape America’s distorted views of military veterans so we can fully realize their value as civic assets.

Response by PO2 Mark Saffell made Dec 7 at 2015 7:58 AM

PO2 Mark Saffell — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 07:58:05 -0500

That's hard to do when the liberal media looks upon us as Break glass in case of emergency and any other time out of site out of mind. For example. They are more interested in bringing in Syrian Refugees than helping the 50,000 homeless vets.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 7 at 2015 8:09 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 08:09:36 -0500

It's true we need to reshape how civilians think about veterans. There is this image that all we do is kill. It's evident even in children, I had a child reply to me, "Oh, you kill people". It's perpetuated in the movies and media over and over.

Response by SGT David T. made Dec 7 at 2015 8:10 AM

SGT David T. — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 08:10:45 -0500

Part of the issue is how we act ourselves. I have seen the growth of a seriously inflated sense of entitlement on my fellow veterans' part. This turns off A LOT of people including employers. Employers don't really care what we did. What they care is that we can achieve results for them in the here and the now. Getting results is something we excel at, but an employer will not recognize that if we ourselves do not adapt. They get turned off when we do not adapt and conform to their norms. When we are abrasive and rigid, no one will give us a chance. This is only one piece of the whole though. As a society we need to do a better job of reintegrating vets back into society. In many cases the military just thanks you for your service and out the door you go. I think transition programs need to be revamped to actually hire veterans who have been through it who worked in both the private and public sectors. If they did this, I think we would see a vast improvement in how vets transition out. When I got out, the ACAP program was nothing more than a check the block thing and honestly nothing they taught me was at all useful in finding a job. Perhaps it has changed, but I wont hold my breath. I can go on about the VA too but I think that is already well known where they need to correct things.

Response by PFC David Ryba made Dec 7 at 2015 8:14 AM

PFC David Ryba — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 08:14:59 -0500

More shows like Veterans Newsline might help!
https://www.youtube.com/user/usveteran1/videos

usveteran1

Welcome to Veterans Media Services

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Dec 7 at 2015 10:04 AM

LTC Stephen F. — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 10:04:58 -0500

COL Mikel J. Burroughs Reshaping the views of US citizens could be accomplished by
1. POTUS Obama using his bully pulpit repeatedly over the next year to change his narrative and move away from focusing on victimization and move towards lauding selfless service to teis nation by America's veterans and police forces. This could have a significant impact on those progressives who have consistently voted for him who have a low opinion of the military service members, veterans and police force members.
2. For those of us who are military service members or veterans we can do a good job of representing the constituency we are members of and not drawing attention to ourselves by bad behavior. it generally take repeated good behavior to overcome one incidence of bad behavior.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Dec 7 at 2015 11:41 AM

LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 11:41:39 -0500

Mandatory national service for all 18 year olds, except those with legitimate medical exemptions...

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Dec 7 at 2015 12:25 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:25:56 -0500

I think the American public experienced their attrition from these wars. It's culmination is those military people fighting the two long wars that they don't want to think about, because we can't seem to win.

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Dec 7 at 2015 7:22 PM

MSgt Curtis Ellis — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 19:22:05 -0500

Personally, I think it has to begin with how our government views treats us as veterans... The issue with the treatment of our veterans, ALL of our veterans, are world known. If our own government doesn't "care", why should the rest of America, to include other veterans, care?

Response by PO3 Michael James made Dec 7 at 2015 9:42 PM

PO3 Michael James — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 21:42:26 -0500

This falls into the laps of our leadership.. Congress shows little respect for our Veterans... Whenever a Congressional committee questions our Generals, Captains, Majors etc., its with sarcasm and disrespect !!! Just what type of example do they leave for the citizens of this country to follow ??? Washington is the one that's in SAD Shape !!

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Dec 8 at 2015 1:28 AM

Capt Seid Waddell — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 01:28:49 -0500

There is not much we can do; it is up to society to shape its view of veterans. That view is much better today though, than when I returned from Viet Nam - I couldn't wear my uniform to town when I came home from the war.

All we can do is to do our part faithfully - we cannot change the hearts of others.

Response by COL Ted Mc made Dec 8 at 2015 2:23 AM

COL Ted Mc — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 02:23:30 -0500

COL Mikel J. Burroughs - Mikel; What I find most surprising is that, in a society which has a lengthy history of glorifying violence, those who commit violence at the behest of that society are scorned.

You'd think that they'd be swamped by throngs of people demanding that they recount all the gory details of how they "slaughtered the Muslim hordes" from the moment they got off the plane.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Dec 8 at 2015 12:57 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 12:57:33 -0500

Allow women into combat arms. I have a gut feeling the country will have more interest and put in more thought about wars if women became grunts.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2015 9:58 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 21:58:14 -0500

I think we can change perspectives of the military by first dealing with the perceptions that veterans and service members are all PTSD crazy and obnoxious. We know thats not the case but some civilians I talk to say thats thier first impression without ever taking to the veteran. Hollywood has made us all look like we are Rambo and that hurts alot of vets looking to get jobs. I remember a soldier in my unit saying he didnt get hired because he was a national guard member, now they didn't come out and say that to his face but he heard it from a friend that works in HR. So we need more exposure to our true skills and accomplishments which starts with veterans talking to employer's. Not all companies are bad I know a few that are military friendly.

Response by SGT William Howell made Dec 9 at 2015 8:43 AM

SGT William Howell — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 08:43:39 -0500

COL Mikel J. Burroughs I am not sure that we need to change anybody's thought process about us Vets.

There are many things that bother me about wanting to change the view of who us vets are.

There are over 19 million vets and there is around 50,000 homeless vet. That is .002%. Is it too much? You bet, but it is too much for anybody to be homeless, not just vets. Homeless vets are easier to track than other members of society. The actual number of homeless can not be counted just because of the nature of homelessness, but the number of homeless school children (Which can be tracked.) is believed to be about 1.4 million. That is a society issue, not a vet issue, that needs to be addressed.

We are the warrior class of society. There is nothing wrong with people viewing us as that. Not all of us have killed, but every one of us has trained to kill. People are not wrong in the assumption that we come from a culture of violence. They just have to understand this culture also comes with a huge moral compass and ethics not found in the civilian world.

Other issues like unemployed and college are made to look worse than they are because numbers are not being compared apples to apples. The average veteran works on average 10 years longer than a civilian. That is ten years longer they may be looking for work. "Employed" to the government means they have a job, but it does not mean that they are not under-employed. I have not seen any facts, but I would bet that the amount of vets under-employed is far less than the national average. Collage drop out rates are at around 55% for the nation so there is no epidemic of vets that can't make it to graduation. If you compare vets attending collage having a family to support - to those that did not serve with a family, they are probably much more successful. Again, just an opinion no facts to back that up.

My last thought. PTSD. In order to bring PTSD to light and get treatment for those vets who have it, we had to make it an issue so the nation of voters would hold congress accountable. We put it out there and it worked. The consequence to that is society thinks every vet has PTSD even though that is not the case. Being someone that was one of the lucky ones and did not get PTSD, I can live with that stereotype because people now have some understanding and those with PTSD are now getting help.

Response by SSG Audwin Scott made Dec 9 at 2015 9:00 AM

SSG Audwin Scott — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 09:00:01 -0500

We reshape their views by educating them about what we do. I think we must become someone transparent so they can get a better understanding of what we do also. For many years after I retired I wouldn't talk about what I saw or did in Iraq, I now am becoming more comfortable sharing my experiences in combat with civilians and it is actually like a therapy to me by getting it out and talking about it.

Response by SFC Pete Kain made Dec 9 at 2015 9:09 AM

SFC Pete Kain — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 09:09:24 -0500

Bring back the draft and make more civilians Veterans

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Dec 9 at 2015 10:55 AM

SSG Warren Swan — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 10:55:14 -0500

Sir, by maintaining what we are, who we are, and the standards that we maintained while in service. You don't need to carry the rank with you, just what made you get to that level.
My primary counter is the LTC who got on Fox news and blatantly disrespected the president. He is what folks are going to see being he is an officer, a vet, and now a retiree. You don't have to like the president for his policies, but you DO need to respect his position, and he threw all that out the door. My second counter will be those who think since they wore the uniform, deployed 50thoudandand1 times, the country owes them something. I see this a lot on FB and it's even mode worse by vet pages who take this and "support" it using the herd mentality. When we're ready to stand up and be the stewards of professionalism we should be, we're going to be seen as "second" class leeching citizens who believe we're special, better than the common man, and disrespectful.
To caveat this, I will freely admit I believe I am special. I believe I am one of the best people to come out of America's womb. I also believe I owe people for the chances I've been given for all the screwing up I did in uniform. But I try to give back both on here and the vet orgs here in VA. I owe a lot of people. And paying it forward and hoping a future NCO doesn't do what I did, or a future Soldier can look at me and say I want to be like him (without the massive number of 4856's). I am the best because I want others to be better.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Dec 11 at 2015 2:49 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 14:49:42 -0500

I bet we can use steps from non-violent revolutions.