A Veterans' group for those who would rather DO something in defense of fellow Veterans, ...not just talk about it. Deeds speak LOUDER than words!
Situation:
-Recognizing the fact that many Veterans, despite making significant personal sacrifice in service to their nation, find themselves in adverse circumstances. Too many Veterans find themselves isolated, marginalized, excluded, exploited, and even subjected to blatant discrimination. Any Veteran who has attended college can tell you how hostile that particular environment can be.
-Recognizing the fact that too many Veterans are suffering disproportionately from severe depression, post traumatic stress, and other afflictions resulting from events directly related to military service. Too often the afflicted Veterans find these adverse circumstances manifesting in an abnormally high rates of suicide, substance abuse, and domestic strife.
-Veterans facing these situations frequently find themselves with extremely limited resources. Too often the very agencies that are supposedly established to assist Veterans, actually do very little. They are completely inept in their stated mission, and are overwhelmingly staffed by people who can not related to Veterans. These are frequently people who are largely indifferent to the very real and serious concerns of Veterans, and who adhere to ideologies that are contradictory to those held by the Veteran community.
-Recognizing that collectively, Veterans are utterly devoid of any voice in the society that they sacrificed so much for. Veterans have no specific or general venue to voice their concerns.
-Recognizing the fact that there are specific politically-oriented elements in our society that want this situation to continue as it is. Since the 1960s, various institutions such as news and entertainment media, popular "culture", and academia have intentionally waged a campaign of hate, bigotry, discrimination, and contempt against the U.S. military, its members, and Veterans in general.
Mission:
-To provide a network of support for veterans. The United Veterans Defense Network is a proactive advocacy group that will provide support and solidarity for all veterans, of all branches of service, whether retired, discharged, serving on active-duty, or currently serving as a Reservist or National Guard member. We pledge to protect the rights, dignity, and honor of all Veterans.
-The United Veterans Defense Network is an American patriotic organization. We stand for the Rule of Law, The U.S. Constitution, and traditional American values. Freedom is EVERYTHING. Without freedom you have NOTHING.
Execution:
-To establish a network of American Patriots who will come to the assistance of fellow Veterans in their time of need. This network will primarily act locally, but will actively assist national organizations of similar mission, as well as individual Veterans, whenever possible, to the limit of our ability.
Administration & Logistics:
-Everyone who with sincere intention of providing real support and solidarity for Veterans in need is a valuable volunteer. There are particular specialties that this organization will need if we are going to be effective.
Example:
Counselors, Financial Advisors, Lawyers, Paralegals, Website Designers, Bloggers, Personal Trainers, Anyone with experience in Non-profit organizations, anyone with employment leads, etc.
- The above list is not by any means final. If individual members or volunteers have a specialty that they believe will benefit somebody in need, you are very welcome to contribute. At the very least, there are Veterans who are socially isolated, especially many of our elderly Veterans. They would appreciate merely having another human being to talk to.
Command & Signal:
-Our network will utilize all media and means of communication we can to get our message out, and to communicate within the network.
Who Should Consider Joining:
*Every Veteran or citizen who is concerned about the dignity, well-being, and justice for those who have served in the military, or are currently serving.
*Anyone who wants to take action to help Veterans in need, especially in your local area.
*Any Veteran who finds himself/herself facing adverse situations alone. We are vulnerable when we are isolated and marginalized. We are stronger when we work together and help each other.
Some Major Concerns:
This is just a sampling, there are a LOT more concerns for veterans of every status. All of them are serious either individuals or whole groups.
*Employment Discrimination:
Our Veteran has just come home from active-duty. Our Veteran has returned from a recent deployment, probably with significant risk of death or injury in a foreign war-zone. The job he applied for requires only a high school diploma, no previous experience necessary. The job was given to some teenage dope-smoker who still lives with his mommy.
*Dangers of calling the Veterans' Crisis Line:
This happened to my father, a Vietnam Veteran. He arrived in Vietnam in 1968, experiencing intense combat as a Marine Corps infantryman. Most of his friends did not survive. Fifty years later, the trauma of his experiences has not diminished. Three years ago, he called the Veterans' Crisis Line. The counselor told my father they were sending someone out to talk to him. The Wisconsin Sheriff Department showed up. Four of their officers arrived at my father's house, and commenced screaming at him to "come out of the house". My father had not made any "threats" to anyone, in any way. He has no criminal record whatsoever. He did recently retire from the Federal Forest Service after thirty years. He went out into the front yard to find these officers aggressively screaming commands, aiming rifles at him, with the laser sites on. This is how "law enforcement" treats combat Veterans in this country? This is not the only incident like this. Other Veterans have related similar experiences.
*Mistreatment of Female Veterans:
A far too common occurrence. I have personally observed this on active-duty, in the reserve, and among national guard units. Too many female personnel just put up with the mistreatment, even when it escalates into a blatant assault. For the female Veteran, this is something you must keep in mind: You are an American citizen who has made sacrifices to serve your country. In our modern age, even if you are serving in a non-combat job, there is still considerable risk of death and injury, especially when deployed overseas. You DO NOT deserve to be mistreated and disrespected.
*Company Level Injustice:
Whether active-duty or reserve, some of us have had the misfortune to serve in a unit where the "good old boy network" rules. This is usually a company, where the commanding officer, or at least the senior enlisted personnel, run the unit as if it's their private "banana republic". There is a blatant atmosphere of favoritism, low morale, and vindictiveness. Cowards like this have NO business being in charge in any American military unit. This is NOT a third-world country. You see people i the "inner circle" earning promotions who didn't earn them. You see other people being unfairly singled out for abuse. Maybe this happened to you, years ago. Maybe this is happening to someone you know; a son, a daughter, another relative. Maybe this is happening to you, right now. There should be a means to address these grievances without risk of the inevitable reprisals. The U.S. military is supposed to be a STRICT MERITOCRACY.
*Prisoners of War:
There was a common experience among those Veterans who were held as prisoners of North Korea or North Vietnam. Certain Veterans, officers and enlisted, whose military specialty entailed having a security clearance, advanced technical skills, or special operations training all had the peculiar experience of being questioned by interrogators who already knew intimate details about them. The interrogators new his address, the names of his family members, etc. How was this possible? There were networks of people in America, doing research on behalf of North Korean or North Vietnamese intelligence. Most of these traitors were leftist college students, war protesters, and communist party members. Decades later, none of these people have ever seen the inside of a prison cell.
*Red Flag laws:
This entails a set of potential new legislation, varying from state to state. The general concept is this:
If someone makes a statement to law enforcement or a judicial official that another individual is a perceived "threat", the police will be able to raid your home and confiscate your firearms. Anyone can make this claim. It does not have to be verified with any evidence whatsoever. For example, a vindictive ex-wife/ex-girlfriend can make a completely false claim that our Veteran is a "threat" somehow. Apparently Veterans are being unjustly and disproportionately subjected to these particular accusations. As a Veteran, you have training, tactical skills, and experience that the majority of your fellow citizens will never have. It is unjust that your service to your nation, your very status as a Veteran, is being used against you. "Red flag laws" will allow law enforcement agencies to legally raid your home and take your personal property, with no warrant, and no evidence whatsoever. This includes making an arrest of an innocent citizen, based merely on someone else's dubious accusation.
I am not alone in predicting that Veterans will be the most frequent and INTENDED targets of these "red flag laws". This is America. The U.S. Constitution, The Bill of Rights and Rule of Law are supposed to MEAN something. What about the concept of "Presumed innocent until proven guilty"?
*Desecration of War Memorials:
A specific element of our society is actively engaged in vandalizing our monuments. Among other things, their main agenda is to remove, demolish, or outright vandalize monuments that have a prominent Judeo/Christian theme. These childish, ignorant, and hysterical elements are basically attempting to erase history that they disapprove of, for whatever dubious reason. Whatever the demographics of religious affiliation may be in the present or the future, the war memorials overwhelmingly represent the beliefs of the personnel who are buried in massive fields of crosses. This is a flagrant act of disrespect for the dead, Veterans who died for this country, and for their allies. And many of these men suffered greatly, before they died, often of horrible wounds, illness, or infections. The vast majority of them died very young.
*Injustice to Honorable Service Members:
A enormous number of outrages against good men and women, merely for acting like REAL AMERICANS. For example, a pair of Special Forces men tasked with training an Afghan police force. When they found out that the Afghan police chief was raping little boys, they administered some "cowboy justice". Can you believe that in our time, American fighting men were threatened with dishonorable discharge for beating up a child molester?
The death of Freedom of Expression: One careless use of the "wrong" word or comment will result in your career being destroyed. we live in an age where some classes of people are "threatened" by words. However, those same groups of people who are so "sensitive" to unkind or inconsiderate commentary are not the slightest bit restricted in their own use of incendiary statements, making defamatory accusations of all manner of slanderous character assassination, as well as blatant threats of death and dismemberment without any repercussions. Freedom of expression for some, ...but not for designated others?
