On Memorial Day the USA remembers all soldiers who have died during an act of military service. Today, many businesses offer freebies and special discounts to veterans and active military.
However, as politicians tell their constituents how much they care about America and that they support #USA military veterans.
Why the are so many of them suffering from all the sacrifices they have made to protect our democratic form of government?
These are the sad facts and figures that should cause many of us grave concern before we hit the beach and enjoy parades.
Twenty US military veterans die by suicide each day. In fact, the risk for suicide is 22 percent higher among veterans than the non-veteran population, according to the Veterans Administration.
Twenty-four percent of all veterans, about 4.9 million people, have a service-connected disability. Hundreds of thousands more are trying to appeal denials of disability benefits.
On any single night, 40K veterans are homeless, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Three in five homeless veterans were staying in emergency shelters or transitional housing.
Over 15,000 homeless veterans were staying in places not suitable for human habitation.
318,000 – The Veterans Administration estimated there are over 318,000 appeals of veteran benefits pending nationwide, with an average wait time for appeals of 935 days.
370K US veterans are unemployed according to the US Department of Labor. Unemployment is higher for younger veterans between the ages of 22 and 34 than civilians. https://veterans.gov/
The US Census Bureau reports that 1,465,807 veterans live under the official US poverty line.
Nearly 1.5 million veterans live in households with low enough incomes that they receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Is this any way to thank these American heroes for their service?
AP Fact Check
TRUMP: "This week, we passed a new landmark legislation to give more choice and better care to our great veterans. We're going to take care of our veterans. We're doing a great job with them. We are taking care, finally, after decades, we're taking care of our veterans." — Friday speech.
THE FACTS: Not so fast. Congress passed a wide-ranging plan last week to expand private care for veterans as an alternative to the Veterans Affairs health system, but it'll take at least a year to implement and its actual scope in expanding choice to veterans will depend on the next VA secretary, who has yet to be confirmed. A successful expansion of private care will also depend on an overhaul of electronic health records at VA to allow for a seamless sharing of records with private physicians. That overhaul will take at least 10 years to be fully complete.
The legislation would also expand a VA caregivers program to cover families of veterans of all eras, not just the families of veterans who were seriously injured in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001. Implementation of that program won't begin until after the VA secretary can provide assurances to Congress that the department's IT systems can handle a surge in new applicants. A phased rollout of benefits won't be fully finished until more than two years afterward.
The US flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each American soldier who died to protect it.
