The Why and How of Getting Involved with Veterans

RP Members and Connections another great article from a very good writer and find of SSG Eric Burleson. Her name is Valerie Taylor and I think she has a great viewpoint on becoming more familiar with the veterans in your community. It's worth a read and a share to your patriotic civilian community. Here's a sneak preview of the article - check out the rest.

Most people will never serve in the military or receive any form of combat training in their entire lifetime. What civilians see and hear about are the glorified war stories in the form of blockbusters or the gory tales. We see the folded flags on caskets, watch the YouTube videos of dogs going into hysterics because their master has returned. We gladly tell these men and women “thank you for your service to the country,” but once veterans are back in community, the only thanks most civilians tend to give is slapping a yellow ribbon sticker onto their bumper.

Eric recently talked about how civilians can truly “support the troops.” I honestly hope people take his words to heart, because “supporting the troops” is so much more than thinking about those men and women presently risking their lives for our national security. It also means honoring those who have served and are now reintegrating into society.

To recap on Eric’s article, he listed three things that civilians can provide:

Friendship
Mentorship
Advocacy

How many civilians, yourself included, have actually done these things for a military vet in your community? How many of you have gotten involved with veterans in a productive and effective manner?

Unless you are from a military family or had close friends who went off to the military, you are probably like most and haven’t given returned soldiers much thought. But you really should.