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Patriotic on Sunday, Forgotten by Monday
“Support the troops.”
It’s one of America’s favorite chants. You’ll hear it at football games, parades, campaign rallies. It’s printed on bumper stickers, plastered across flags, and shouted like a moral badge of honor. Few phrases are more untouchable in American culture.
And yet, for all that chanting, flag-waving, and virtue signaling, the reality for veterans tells a very different story. They come home to homelessness. To untreated PTSD. To medical bureaucracy so tangled it could break the strongest among us.
In short: America loves soldiers as symbols but often discards them as people.
Used Equipment
The military calls it “service.” But let’s be honest — service in America often feels more like being treated as equipment. You’re maintained while useful, celebrated while deployed, paraded around while convenient. But once the mission is done? Many are left to rust.
It’s not hard to find the evidence. On any given night, more than 30,000 veterans experience homelessness. Rates of suicide among vets remain alarmingly high. Access to mental health care through the VA is inconsistent at best, catastrophic at worst.
We say, “thank you for your service,” but what we really mean is, thank you for your sacrifice —…
