Veterans

The great Roman general and seven-term consul Gaius Marius [157 BC -86 BC] was famous for his populist reforms of the Roman army. Marius changed the rules, admitting landless, common folk into the legions, correcting their land-deficiency by giving his new volunteers land to work and build on in the conquered Roman lands. Marius knew how to build a most effective volunteer army. While none of his contemporaries would have described the brutal soldier as thoughtful or visionary, Marius was in fact a man with his eye on the future. He understood the importance of taking care of his veterans.

Even as we dump a trillion dollars annually into subsidies for needy and elderly citizens who have never put their necks on the line, Americas spends a paltry 2 billion annually caring for our homeless veterans. As I write, 250,000 veterans are homeless, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Many have substance abuse problems and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The USA Today reported in November, 2007, that “veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11% of the general adult population... And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.”

“The Iraq vets seeking help with homelessness are more likely to be women,” said Pete Dougherty, director of homeless veterans programs at the VA.

Our failure to care for our veterans is a disgrace.

The best-kept Americans should be our veterans. Any man or woman who served this country during wartime should never have to fear for their future. They are the only Americans who actually have a legitimate right to “free” food, housing, and health care. They’ve paid for it with their service to this country. Unlike the failed high school dropouts on the welfare rolls and the bailed-out failed financial institutions on Wall Street, veterans are entitled to our collective support through the tax code. They are the only Americans our government has a moral obligation to sustain whatever the cost.

If we persist in legislating immoral budget priorities, the consequences will be grave. We will not be able to gather a volunteer force to defend this county’s interests across the globe even as we enter what will likely be another bloody century for the defenders of liberty. America is engaged in a global war for our existence. Our armed forces will be deployed somewhere in the world for decades to come. How will build our armies? Ultimately, Congress will determine that there is no choice but to compel individuals to serve in the military. This would be a cure for our manpower problems that is worse than the disease. It is a terrible hypocrisy to form an army for the purposes of defending the rights of individuals by forced conscription.

There is no better, moral way to insure the maintenance of an all-volunteer force to defend this country down the road than to take care of each and every individual who has served already.