Bath 1 Bailey Bath Carol Sieverts English 1010 18 November 2013 To Care or Not to Care In 2010 President Obama

promised Obama care wouldnt diminish health benefits for services families or retirees. He told the 9.6 million veterans and active duty personnel who use TRICAREthe Defense Departments health planthat they would be better off. Nearly 12% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans live in poverty. One of every three homeless men or women who are sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served their country. Said Robert M. Goldberg, Vice President of the Center for Medicine. There is an obvious lack of medical care given to our active duty soldiers and veterans. Last week the administration unveiled a plan to remake TRICARE that breaks Obamas promises. If we promise our men and women active duty or not we need to keep that promise. These people have put their lives on the line for our freedom. The least we could do is create some type of TRICARE that would benefit them. (Graph made by Alejandro Reuss.) Economics researcher.

Nearly 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer from PTSD or TBI. (Six

Bath 2 percent have both.) (Goldberg) Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of our veterans that have lost limbs, and we expect them to work. The United States Government needs to take a stand for the men and women and give them quality care. Veterans day is held on November 11, in order to show respect for our military veterans. However, Veterans day should be in our minds everyday not just one day a year. Veterans day was once known as Armistice Day and was changed to Veterans day in 1954. At the first commemoration it was said: To us in America the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the countrys service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it was freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations. (President Wilson)

Graph by Heather Kuhn Roelker Leaves for Trees journalist. The World War One draft sent men out to battle at the young age of 18. This required them to grow up quickly. Men still live with horrific memories of battle because they werent given any support from the United States Government; some decided to withdraw from help while others thought they were fine. Mackenzie Bath did an interview with C.W. Brown who served in WW1. He is very brief with

Bath 3 what he will share as his best friend had gotten killed in front of him. To this day he will explain certain things and they bring him to tears. Connor Zumwalt was severely hurt when he jumped out of a helicopter and a heavier man didnt pull his shoot and he landed on her brother. It took two months for the government to take an X-ray of her brothers back only to notice it was much worse then they originally thought. The government shutdown effected military personnel and veterans dramatically. Our veterans were fighting to see our national monument as well as for their money. Non- Essential military veterans went without pay for 3 weeks. They couldnt buy anything, or go to healthcare appointments. Active duty soldiers lost money off of their checks that were coming back to their families. We were losing 300 dollars a week. If it wasnt for me working we could have lost everything in that three-week span. Said Jessica Deewardt military wife, living in California. Some people would argue we are giving adequate care to our veterans and military personnel. They may want to argue this because it costs the government too much. They have never experienced the care that we provide, and may think it is adequately being given, or that we are caring for them for free. We need to stand up as a government and help our men and women that have served our country and give them the care we promised them. A difference needs to be made. At least once a week there is an article of a homeless veteran or military personnel coming home only to notice they have health problems, or PTSD just to name a few. It can be as little as making a new tax bracket to notice our military personnel. We want our readers to understand how much our military has

Bath 4 given to us, and we wouldnt be anywhere without them. The least we could do is provide everything we can for them. If we dont care for them who will take care of us?

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Works Cited Goldberg, Robert. "Obama's Broken Promise to Wounded Warriors." The American Spectator . N.p.. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://spectator.org/articles/35809/obamas-broken-promise-woundedwarriors>. Reuss, Alejandro. "Ruling the Empire." Dollars and Sense. N.p.. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/0103reuss.html>. Roelker, Heather. "Registering for the WW1 Draft ." Leaves for Trees. N.p., 13 JUNE 2011. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://leavesfortrees.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-registered-for-wwidraft-military.html>. "History of Veterans Day ." Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. U.S Department of Veterans Affairs. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp>. "Homeless Veterans." National Coalition for the Homeless. N.p.. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/veterans.html>.

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