What does it mean to really help veterans?
Is it a simple Thank you?
Is it donating to some big organization that you trust with your money?
Is it joining some parade, just to stand there and congratulate us?
Is it building a memorial in honor of our sacrifice?
Is it sitting on your couch watching military channel?
Is it impersonating us?
Is it wearing a similar outfit and imitating us?
is it honoring us at some football game where americans spend $452.34 on season tickets and on average only spend $200 a year to charities that say they help and assist veterans not knowing a lot of that money is just going toward that organizations expenses. “Some charities claiming to support veterans spend heavily on overhead instead” and “Appeals tug at heartstrings, but not all of $12 billion donated by Americans finds its way to veterans”
Initial Average Ticket Price
Seattle Seahawks Tickets $452.34
Example is football and being a soldier,
soldiers train, Infantry Basic training 4months = 2921.94 hours 1 deployment = 12 month = 8765.81 hours Home, you work when told no matter what so hours can vary. Your a soldier in and out of the uniform until your discharged.
Private (E1) $18,378 year 2 Years Experience = $1,531 a month = 30 days = $51 a day = $4.25 hour
Private (E2) $20,602.80
football players train 10,000 hours = 3 hours a day, 20 hours a week for 10 years
“Football players in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) said they spent an average of 44.8 hours a week on their sport — playing games, practicing, training and in the training room — compared with a little less than 40 hours on academics.”
“The franchise tag numbers for each position were announced alongside the 2015 salary cap. Each number is an average of the five highest salaries at each position for the upcoming season. The 2015 franchise tag numbers, via a pair of tweets from Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network”
Quarterback: $18.544 million
Running back: $10.951 million
Wide receiver: $12.823 million
Tight end: $8.347 million
Offensive line: $12.943 million
Defensive end: $14.813 million
Defensive tackle: $11.193 million
Linebacker: $13.195 million
Cornerback: $13.075 million
Safety: $9.618 million
Punter/Kicker: $4.126 million
“Professional fundraisers have collected $130,399,567 for veteran organizations since 2001, the records show. But those fund-raisers kept 84 percent of the money donated. Meaning, most of the money you donate never reaches veterans needing help.”
http://kxan.com/2014/11/06/donation-deception-millions-of-donated-dollars-never-make-it-to-veterans/
I believe there is enough money in circulation to help and solve our current problems we face when helping and providing assistance to our veterans. The money is just not being funneled properly and American citizens need to become more aware of spending habits and be more informed and considerate. What I see is Americans would rather buy season tickets for enjoyment and leave one of their family member or friend out on the street because of the personal connection and the lack of their understanding and willing to trust and help that individual that are ignored and then somewhere down the line Americans as the walk into a store or sitting at a light or even just got done watching a sad commercial asking for your donations and this donations are sucked up like a vacuum by big organizations they don't even give the donations directly back to the very veterans that the people had though they donated to. Yet even in south florida people don't want pan handing on corners and people don't want people begging for money but this people are most likely the same people that can’t get assistance by those big organizations because of strict selection and unreasonable requirements. People would much rather spend money on pleasures and entertainment rather than help a veteran directly. My question is are you not entertained overtime as you watch the news? or youtube videos of us in combat?
Wheres the trust and love in America have we become selfish? indulging in our own accomplishments just to give your money to the wrong people for your own fame and bragging rights wile leaving your disabled, hurt, lost, and alone loved ones out to die in the streets as their lives fall apart every hour. You want my advise? bring your veterans back home no matter what that veteran might have done or what they have been through, give them a call just to even ask how they are doing? invited them to holidays with arms wide open. Even if that call hurts don't let your fear keep you from doing a good thing. Don't be judgment and aid the stigmas that might isolate a veteran. I believe americans have become not only selfish but scared of fear and yet the very people you turn your head to have stood up in the face of the very fear you all have in the back your minds and that is another foreign country coming and stealing our freedoms and disrupting our way of living.
Reasons you might not want to help a veteran: Uncertainty, unaccountability, drug use, outburst, open threats, language, lack of communication, lack of trust.
Reasons you might want to help a veteran: Loyalty, respect, strength, resilience, survival skills, protection, huge benefit and asset to society, Because its the right thing to do.
Questions?
First would you allow a veteran (family or friend) stay at your home?
Would you allow them to use such a Cannabis in or away from the home?
Would support veterans using cannabis as medication to help cope and recover?
Would you financially support this form of medication?
Would you embrace the time and effort it takes to help a veteran during recovery stages?
Would you report them immediately when experiencing a outburst?
Would you know or want to know how to properly handle a veteran experiencing extreme thoughts?
Should there be a escalation chart to know when the proper time is to report to authority when dealing with a veteran?
Would you be willing to actually show interest in listening to a veterans story.
The reasons I ask these questions is because a veteran might be turned away or thrown out of treatment for choosing to use cannabis as a form of medication during recovery but that does not mean its not right it just means that big organization are protecting their own assets and not supporting the veterans choice. This is a huge issue because not only does a veteran face the stigma that leads him to loose family and friends support but they are less likely to find employment as well because again liability and policies. This is only because not enough American are willing to stand up and vote or voice their opinion when it comes to supporting our veterans or anyone disabled in general. This also has to do with lack of education and unwillingness to even look at the facts and studies or as little as be informed by simply conversation and sharing ideas base around the use of cannabis.
For me when I was homeless it was more about what would work for and I knew by trying to seek help from programs and organizations is that especially in upstate NY that if I wanted help I would have to actively participate in the help meaning I would have to accept moving away from the very places and people I felt comfortable around. I was young and still am young and it bothered me that I would have to give up my time and efforts to accept help and not do so much of what I wanted to do but what was required. when I was homeless I felt like the money I was receiving from unemployment that it was only enough to keep up on my car payment and phone bill. and because I was so consumed with confusion, isolation, self medication for pain not knowing in the myths of all this I was creating a bad reputation as friends and families were watching and judging my actions. It was hard for me to accept that everyone is human and everyone has problems and makes mistakes and I found myself in a selfish situation questioning why the world did not stop to help me? Even though I had been receiving some type of income I always found myself unable to fix my situation or help myself out. The income would only be enough to pick and chose what to pay for and not pay for and in my logic my car payment and phone bill was far more important than housing, I would much rather have the freedom of movement then to have a place and unable to go anywhere.
Reasons veterans end up homeless: Lack of family and friends support due to stigma around drug use, and harsh reactions or extreme outburst, drug abuse, difficulties coping with disabilities, lack of support from piers and employers.
People will go out of the way to keep a dog or cat that is vicious and spend the money to get them help yet when dealing with people that have a medical excuse for they’re actions get treated unfairly and judge negatively.
Often people that notice a young veteran struggling, they don't understand why they often can’t help themselves or struggle more because a lot of time people compare books by their covers and more then less they compare their own struggles to veterans and don't understand when its much harder for veterans to get out of the funk, to stay focused, I have personally herd professors and family members state that they have struggled to get where they are not fully understanding the obstacles that veterans face when battling PTSD. A quick example would be stating that they have had to have long sleepless nights doing work in order to graduate, well this might have worked for them but do you think for someone that has sleeping problems and more than likely to be in recovery and try to get themselves in a normal state of mind and in order to be productive should be on some type of sleep schedule not only that a veterans taking any type of sleep medications will more than likely be on a sleep schedule, so my question would be is it still expect for a veteran to have so much work that they should just be expected to work at the same standards as everyone else and have they same anxiety as most college students or should veterans have exceptions? I will state that theres nothing worse then experiencing homelessness with lack of support,education, lack of financial means to support themselves with PTSD, there nothing worse wile trying to recover than to be constantly reminded and triggering symptoms that need medical attention. The worst part of it all is wether a veterans struggles are temporary or not, as a soldier being released from the military you only have so much time to get medical attention, one legally you have free health care the first 5 years after discharge, not only that in order to tackle the symptoms of PTSD and in order for a veteran to transition back to civilian live, they need to be able to start immediately getting help in order to be successful using their GI BILL to further their education also to find and keep employment. theres many ways veterans can battle PTSD,
Consider these questions?
- how will you get money?
- how will you eat?
- where will you bathe?
- how many supplies will you carry?
- where will you keep your supplies?
- what will you do with all the things you had before becoming homeless?
- what will you do if your laptop is stolen?
- what will you do if your gun is stolen?
WHAT IS PTSD AND SYMTOMS
“Because the body is busy increasing the heart rate, pumping blood to muscles for movement and preparing the body to fight off infection and bleeding in case of a wound, all bodily resources and energy get focused on physically getting out of harm’s way. This resulting damage to the brain’s response system is called posttraumatic stress response or disorder, also known as PTSD. Intrusive Memories, which can include flashbacks of reliving the moment of trauma, bad dreams and scary thoughts.
Avoidance, which can include staying away from certain places or objects that are reminders of the traumatic event. A person may also feel numb, guilty, worried or depressed or having trouble remembering the traumatic event.
Dissociation, which can include out-of-body experiences or feeling that the world is "not real" (derealization).
Hypervigilance, which can include being startled very easily, feeling tense, trouble sleeping or outbursts of anger.Someone with PTSD may have additional disorders, as well as thoughts of or attempts at suicide:
• Anxiety disorders, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder and OCD
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Depression
• Substance abuse
These other illnesses can make it challenging to treat PTSD. For example, medications used to treat OCD or depression may worsen symptoms of PTSD, and may even trigger them. Successfully treating PTSD almost always improves these related illnesses. And successful treatment of depression, other anxiety or substance abuse usually improves the symptoms of PTSD.”
“Addressing a serious issue: Recent studies show have found that a staggering 22 veterans commit suicide every day. The suicide rate among those returning from the most recent wars is roughly 50% higher than in their civilian peers, according to the Los Angeles Times.”
“Although medicines can reduce the symptoms of PTSD, the fact that the medicine has not helped you does not mean you are stuck with the PTSD forever. You need to realize that no one medicine is going to work for everyone who has PTSD. Even medicines that are helpful with some symptoms may leave you with problems in other areas. You may be able to try a different medicine that will work better for you. Your doctor may also want to add a medicine to help with specific problems you might have. For instance, he or she may want to prescribe a sleeping pill to help with sleep problems even though you are taking another medicine for PTSD. Also know that even if medicines are able to reduce your PTSD symptoms, the symptoms are likely to come back (at least partially) when you stop taking the medicine”.
Things veterans can do to help themselves, seek help immediately after discharge, seek out the best support system, whether that might be family, programs, friends and be on the same page with your recovery. Do not expect everyone to understand your difficulties and problems. Do not expect anyone to go out of the way just to assist you, you might have to get out of your comfort zone in order to accomplish things like learning to open up and communicate properly.
SKIP A GAME, HELP A VET
#vetovergames
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