Veterans and Our New Commander in Chief

My brother died on Veterans Day 21 years ago. He served behind enemy lines in Vietnam for an elite U.S. Marine Corps unit known as First Force Recon (reconnaissance). He was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat (the shrapnel was left in his body). He suffered terribly from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) long before it became a mental health diagnosis.

To cope with his PTSD, he self-medicated by drinking alcohol. He knew he needed help and requested admittance to an in-patient program at the VA. At that time, alcohol-dependent veterans had to stop drinking for 6 months prior to entry, so he white-knuckled his abstinence for those endless months. He was also told that he needed to face his combat experiences for them to lose their grip on him.

While he awaited to be admitted to the program, he shared many of his combat stories with me, often visibly shaking with fear. I wanted him to stop because it seemed to take such a toll on him, but he begged me to continue asking him questions. I suppose he was one of those troops who just couldnt handle it, according to our soon-to-be Commander in Chief, Mr. Donald Trump . Given what he shared, I know I could not have handled it either. In fact, I dont know any veterans who could have endured what he did without some kind of major cost to their mental health.

Finally he was able to start his treatment in the hospital. Within a few days, however, the staff realized that he had been admitted to the wrong program. He was then discharged (without letting me know) and told to come back in a few months when the correct program for him would begin. Within a few weeks, he dieddrunk in the street, hit by a speeding drunk driver. I was inconsolable.

From the time my brother returned from Vietnam in 1968, Ive spent nearly half a century doing what I could to help the VA better serve veterans. As a family advocate, intern, employee, consultant, andas a veteran myselfa patient, Ive had a unique long-term perspective of the VA. The good news is that what happened to my brother would not happen today. Whereas VA hospitals used to be a place to go to die, given all of the improvements, I wouldnt go anywhere else for my own health care. Thats not to say all the problems are solved, but these days, the commitment to solving those problems is stronger than ever.

We will soon have a new Commander in Chief who has expressed admiration for the likes of Vladimir Putin, Saddam Hussein, and Kim Jong-unleaders known to handle conflicts in the harshest of ways. He also appears to take every personal affront as a reason to fight. As a proponent of waterboarding and the use of nuclear weapons, who expresses a willingness to ignore the Geneva Convention, its hard to believe that our troops will not find themselves in harms way as soon as he gets a chance to put them there.

This Veterans Day, my heart goes out to our active duty soldiers, sailors, and airmen who will bear the brunt of our new leaders decisions. When they become veterans after their service is finished, my prayer is that I will meet them at the VA with all of their limbsor at least their mindsintact, because they will know the service and sacrifices theyve been asked to make have been only for the highest good.

President-Elect Trump, you promised to take care of our veterans. The best thing you can do to uphold that promise is to make sending our troops to war a last resort. Please do your best to solve every international (and national) problem without the use of military force if at all possible. And before you take the oath of office, please spend some time at a VA hospital, get an education about PTSD, and take in the consequences of war for the lucky onesthose who didnt go directly to a VA cemetery. Semper Fi!