Our Opinion: On Veterans Day, we wish healing for those we sent into combat

Monday, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day.

In the United States, we set aside two days each year to honor our military members. Memorial Day is the solemn occasion we remember those who paid the ultimate price for their service. Veterans Day salutes all those who serve/served.

We at the Southeast Missourian mark these days with special content, recalling those who died in the name of freedom and liberty and those who have continued to defend and protect it.

This year’s Veterans Day section appeared in our Thursday, Nov. 7, issue. It contained dozens of pictures of veterans, each providing an opportunity for a small “thank you”. The section also contained several stories about veterans.

We generally have a theme for this special content, and the past few years have focused on veterans who are teachers, using their military experiences to help them impart knowledge; female servicemembers who face unique challenges in their service; and family members who support their veteran spouses, children and brothers and sisters.

This year’s Veterans Day content highlights several veterans who served in combat. Their stories tell tales of personal courage, loyalty and duty in places far from home and where life can be as fleeting as an enemy’s bullet or mortar round. But the stories also include their experiences after the fog of war dissipated, after the sights and sounds of life and death retreated to tortured memory.

Over the generations, the wounds military veterans suffer have changed dramatically while changing none at all. Battlefield medical care has improved, keeping many veterans alive who might have died in previous eras. So, younger veterans are living with severe brain injuries, lost limbs and internal organ damage that would have killed their predecessors.

But the invisible injuries remain as dangerous now as ever. Veterans of World War I and II and Korea came home “shell-shocked”. Vietnam veterans struggled not only with their own cognitive issues but also the scorn of those who opposed the war. Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq veterans received thanks from a grateful nation, but combat affected them, too. Many of these veterans developed substance abuse issues and lost relationships, careers and integral parts of themselves as they spiraled chaotically downward.

Fortunately, help has become more available and accepted.

Talking about the mental damage veterans incur has led to more veterans seeking health care for those injuries. The stigma that seeking care for mental struggles is a sign of weakness is lessening. Programs offered by Veterans Affairs and private not-for-profit organizations are helping veterans as they struggle with reconnecting with the civilian world and its challenges.

Our nation owes its military veterans a debt of gratitude for defending our ideals at home and abroad.

We also owe them a commitment to help reacclimate after they lay down their arms and return to the civilian world.

On this Veterans Day, we thank all the region's veterans for their service. We wish them peace.

And as is our custom, we encourage our elected and appointed leaders to mint new veterans only when absolutely necessary.