The Collaborative

I am here to serve! Thank you GySgt Bryan A. McGown "Gunny" and Colonel Mikel Burroughs great post

I have the impression that there has been a glut of new organizations formed to serve veterans. I know of two very young ones, very energetic in my community, and hear of many more all over the nation. It's just an "impression". I have no proof that it is unusual. Maybe it's always been happening. New organizations coming and going, and a few lingering longer. Whatever. However, it seems to me that the rise of these organizations may indicate that existing veterans groups and groups purportedly serving veterans are not meeting all the needs of veterans. That they become complacent in their niche and fail to see the entire panoply of needs around them. For example, it is an often repeated complaint that veteran fraternal posts like the American Legion and VFW are nothing but smoke filled bars where veterans sit around lying to each other. That they deride younger men (and especially women) as not being real veterans or having lost their war or not serving in a "real" war, not like the one they fought in. In the end, these older, established organizations sit on assets while new groups scramble for funds in an economy bearing the weight of a cancerous government bureaucracy. Again, I have no proof nor do I claim to have any. I'm just offering an opinion and you know what those are worth, don't we?

It's so good to see post like this COL Mikel J. Burroughs - thank you sir.