Hi all,
As a volunteer service officer with the VFW, my top concern is a veteran suicide rate that this year rose from 18 per day to 22 per day. It is barely known that the average age of most of those taking their own life is over 50 and the Veterans Administration has failed to emphasize a historic cause of suicide. Attached is a list of the 71 DBQs that Healthcare providers now access to diagnose veteran disabilities. In the three DBQ’s related to psychological issues, notice that there is no accountability for those who have screwed up our society. The attached DBQ pertaining to PTSD (VBA-21-0960P-3) mainly blames the veteran. It’s somewhat like ignoring the Nazis in causing the Holocaust. There should – at least – be a separate DBQ for something like “cognitive dissonance” (culture shock?, moral violence?) because a major historic cause of suicide is well documented as “Anomie” of which a definition is attached.
The simple truth is that false leaders lied and soldiers died – but not only soldiers – many more innocent civilians. Slavery is slavery; war is war; and murder is murder. Since World 2 (and certainly Vietnam), our politicians have mixed these together and pretend to misunderstand the difference. The main problem with “peace” groups is that they accept the mixed definition. Soldiers and citizens were not meant to be slaves, so the false “masters” who have restored slavery need to be removed from power. Before chasing after peace or trying to end war, we must first assign accountability to the murdering war criminals and try to put them behind bars.
Peace without justice is not a worthwhile goal and, between these, what comes first should be obvious. It’s common sense! To develop tactics on restoring justice, you might want to learn from “In The King of Prussia” (1982, 91m)at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUph8GWFupE. It is a portrayal of the denial of Due Process after the “Plowshares 8” civic action against nuclear genocide at the GE plant in King of Prussia PA (9 Sept.1980).
This is a topic for longer discussion so feedback is welcome.
In fellowship
Victor
VFP Chapter 152