You hear it many times throughout the year: The Veteran’s Administration (VA) doesn’t do enough. However, the idea of many veterans not asking or looking for help doesn’t enter the conversation often enough. How much more burdened would the VA be if every veteran sought help s/he needed?
According to the VA, the veteran population will dwindle down from 19.5 million to 13.6 million in 2048. There is a bright side and a dark side to this, though.
The Bright Side of Doing Enough to Help Veterans
Technology is a great thing. It makes lives so much easier. Could you imagine how much less work could get done without the amazing technological advancements over the last couple decades?
From a military stand point, I like to look at morale. If a soldier’s morale is low, the soldier’s ability will most likely be lower as well. One huge morale drainer is homesickness on deployments, especially if you are deployed and there isn’t much activity for the soldier to keep himself occupied.
With satellites, email, webcams, etc., a soldier can take his mind off of war for a bit. During my deployments, email was great for me, and I found websites with pen pals so I could get more snail mail. I couldn’t imagine what it was like getting nothing during mail call during World War 2!
However, the advancements in technology also make it easier to get more done with less personnel. Drones and other security advancements make it possible to do a lot more with less people. Less military personnel will cut down drastically on people fighting Chicken Hawks’ wars and endanger less American lives….but, will that do enough to help veterans? 🤔
The Brighter Side
Technological advancements also apply to the medical field. Injuries that could’ve ended a soldier’s life can change that course.
The unveiling of the VA’s shortcomings has also opened them up to more funds. More and more funds. The 2021 VA Budget is asking for $243,300,000,000! That’s a whole lot of money they possibly could be getting, but the fact that it has come to that much money should be a red flag to most people.
Surely, it isn’t a red flag to most Chicken Hawks though.
The Dark Side
A Chicken Hawk will not see the immense preponderance of human failure to use this technology irresponsibly. There already have been numerous leaks and stories about mess-ups the military has done. The first one that comes to mind is the WikiLeaks footage of an incident in 2007.
What else has been covered up?
Well, I can tell you that soldiers attempt to cover up the smallest mistakes. For example, as a brand new private stationed in Ft. Lewis, WA, I left my chemical gear out in my room at the barracks. The chemical gear was stolen.
When I asked around about it, it was MY fault for not “securing” or putting a guard on my equipment. This kind of action I came to find out was acceptable – soldiers would do everything they could to not get caught messing up, even if it was as small as not having a piece of equipment.
Theft is called “acquiring,” which makes it OK in the Army. If stealing from a fellow soldier to cover up one’s own short shortcomings, how far will someone go to cover up even the most minor war crimes?
The Darker Side If We Can Do Enough to Help Veterans
Our humanity is possibly the one thing that separates us from most of the animal kingdom. Take that away from us and we’re just like all of the other animals.
The same technological advances that make it easier on us also separate us from each other. Those helicopter pilots in the “Collateral Murder” Wikileaks video didn’t have to look at the children like those soldiers on the ground did.
The ability to fly drones over villages or cities from miles away and drop munitions on the people below is amazing and can keep Americans out of harm’s way. Those drones also take almost any humanity out of killing those, especially the innocents, in the villages and cities.
Any innocents, including children, are simply “Oopsies!” to the Chicken Hawks. It’s so easy to call people an “Oopsie!” if you’ve never seen them.
And the ultimate question provokes itself: What if another country dropped a bomb mistakenly on your house and killed your children, Chicken Hawk, in the name of freedom? Would the Chicken Hawk shrug his shoulders and simply go on about his day?
When Will the Chicken Hawk Stop Being Selfish?
Chicken Hawks will say we have to basically do everything for veterans. A good chunk of the antiwar crowd says leave them to their problems. Some want to find somewhere to help in the middle.
The problem with Chicken Hawks is they don’t even care to see what is unseen. What if the Veteran’s Administration didn’t need $243,300,000,000 for 2021 alone to take care of the people who support the Chicken Hawks’ wars? That money could go to so many other ways to feed people, to research new technology or medicines, to house the homeless, or an endless amount of other things.
It’s super odd to me that instead of doing something fun every night, the Chicken Hawk would rather cause destruction and death.
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