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6/22/2007 Let's Really Support Them: Our Troops Deserve Better When They Come Home If possible, let's put politics aside for a moment. Let's assume every president and legislator and business owner and storekeeper and war protester is sincere when he or she says, "I support the troops." "Troops," in the mythic, stereotypical collective, make up one of America's most revered institutions. They put themselves into harm's way to defend a country that the vast majority of us believe is worth preserving. They volunteer months and years of their lives, knowing that they may be sent to an Afghanistan or Iraq, a place where they will face gunfire and RPGs and roadside bombs. Of course we would support such men and women. They deserve nothing less. Until they come home. Then, we leave too many of them substantially on their own to reconnect with families, jobs and bills: "Hey, thanks for your service. Let us know if you need anything." They need something. They need our support. Many of the ones who return alive bring life-altering injuries, physical and mental. For the most part, the fortunate ones are active-duty military members, who have more built-in support networks. But what of the citizen-soldiers, the National Guard or military Reserve members, the ones who put careers on hold to deploy into battle zones? They are every bit the warrior-heroes. They gave of themselves. They left something over there. Help close to home The Dallas Foundation is one of three Texas community groups trying to help. Thanks to the generosity of a California foundation, the Dallas Foundation is distributing $5 million to nonprofits across a wide swath of northern, western and central Texas to active and former military personnel who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Texas Resources for Iraq-Afghanistan Deployment Fund is a wonderful program, as far as it can go. The U.S. has had troops fighting in Afghanistan since 2001, in Iraq since 2003. Tens of thousands of them are Texans. Many of those troops are on second, third and fourth deployments. As much as we'd like to see U.S. involvement end soon, these deployments will become more, not less, common. Imagine your spouse gone for months at a time. How would you make ends meet, especially on meager military pay? Countless numbers of these soldiers returned to financial hardship, many with injuries that required treatment and therapy that precluded quick returns to the job market and that desperately needed paycheck. Women and men across the state, many young and with children, faced the impossible choice of finding work themselves or staying home to care for a seriously injured spouse. The Dallas Foundation's region for this program includes the Killeen area, home to Fort Hood. You don't even have to do the math to see that $5 million for a third of a state as large as Texas won't go very far. Private groups and those who support them are sharing the war sacrifice, but the money available -- even with the California Community Foundation sharing its resources with Texas -- is barely a start. Beyond a bumper sticker How do the rest of us share the sacrifice, those of us who don't have a husband or wife or mother or father in theater but who live in relative safety here at home because of those troops? Certainly, we can open our wallets and give. To find a worthy group, start at www.americasupportsyou.mil. Or visit the Department of Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars (www.texasvfw.org). The VFW is one of the nonprofits receiving grant money from the Dallas Foundation and distributes it directly to soldiers and their families. And ask yourself why your elected federal officials, who bicker mightily over funding war efforts, can't understand that supporting the troops doesn't end when they come home. Wouldn't you buy a war bond or check a box on your federal income tax return to make sure those who fight on your behalf don't have to go late on a mortgage or worry about the lights being turned off? Our hearts ached to hear one young couple -- a former sergeant injured by a roadside bomb and his wife -- tell us of such hardships, how they worried how they would care for their newborn child, how government rules and red tape only made the task more difficult. "It was very challenging to feel like we were being punished for my husband's service to his country," she said. It's not right. America's government and its people have a moral obligation to support these men and women. Don't we? WHAT YOU CAN DO For more information about the Dallas Foundation, visit www.dallasfoundation.org. For more information about the Texas Resources for Iraq-Afghanistan Deployment Fund, visit www.triadfund.org. To find a group to help with your personal donation, visit www.americasupportsyou.mil. To contact your senator or representative in Congress, visit www.senate.gov or www.house.gov. |
