Will America forget its veterans?
Communities should work to ensure that troops coming home have a
better transition than my husband and I did. Give them the chance to
use the superb skills the military gave them. We never forgot about
you while we were deployed. Don’t forget about us when we come home.
By Kayla Williams
WASHINGTON — When the camera first panned to Michelle Obama sitting
next to Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, a wounded warrior, during
President Obama’s State of the Union message last month, my breath
caught in my throat. This proud noncommissioned officer was a guest of
the first lady, and his presence alone was forcing all who saw him to
remember that America remains a nation at war.
Later, the president told the story of meeting Remsburg shortly before
he was injured on his 10th combat deployment, and of the long and
grueling path to recovery he still travels. My family knows that road
all too well. My husband, Brian, sustained a penetrating traumatic
brain injury from a roadside bomb in Iraq in October 2003, long before
many of today’s systems and services available to support wounded
troops and military families existed. He “slipped through the cracks,”
and we both spent time on unemployment while waiting for his benefits
to start after he was medically retired from the Army. He received no
rehabilitation for his brain injury and got only sporadic
mental-health care for his debilitating post-traumatic stress
disorder.
And yet, we persevered, forming a supportive network of fellow
veterans and gradually finding a new place in our community, with new
ways to serve. It took six years before Brian could read a book again,
but last month, he began using the GI Bill to attend college. Like
Remsburg, we never quit.
My biggest fear is that the American people will forget us — their
veterans. I worry that as the visible reminders of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan fade from popular consciousness, so will the attention
paid to troops, military families, and veterans. Yet the needs of US
veterans will not end when the war does; they will just be beginning.
Though over a lifetime veterans are more highly educated, employed,
and paid than their civilian counterparts, the period of reintegration
can be challenging.
Coming home to a nation distracted by celebrity gossip and seemingly
oblivious to the experiences of deployed troops was jarring and
disconcerting. As a woman veteran, I felt particularly invisible. Many
people had no idea that women were serving in combat alongside men,
despite what the regulations said about keeping us out of direct
ground combat jobs and units. Reentering the workforce was
challenging. It was tough to translate military skills and experiences
into civilian terms, and to adjust to a less hierarchical, more
collaborative environment. Attending college classes with people fresh
out of high school can feel like being in a war-tested version of the
Adam Sandler movie “Billy Madison.”
Brian and I are very fortunate: Over the years, he has enjoyed
tremendous cognitive and psychological improvement, we have been able
to access mental-health care when needed, and we have both used
benefits we earned from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Today, we
are contributing community members, solid employees, proud parents,
and a strong married couple.
As today’s troops come home, become veterans, and reenter civilian
society, communities across the country should come together to ensure
they have a smoother transition than we did. The military gave them
superb practical and leadership skills they can put to good use here
at home; give them the chance to use them. We never forgot about you
while we were deployed. Don’t forget about us when we come home.
Kayla Williams is a project associate at the RAND Corp. and author of
the recently released “Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and
Recovery in the Aftermath of War.”
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