American veterans: 21 suicides per day

Penny Starr reports in Breitbart,

As Americans celebrate Veterans Day, one man who served his country and now advocates for fellow men and women who serve or have served in the military said the country needs to come together to stem the suicide epidemic that leads to 21 veterans taking their own lives every day.

Read more here.

President Trump honors a 94-year-old veteran and invited him and his family to the oval office.

Dropkicking the NFL

This is the boy who was honored by President Trump for decorating veterans' graves with American flags.

A pied piper of patriotism

The choice

Jim Geraghty asks in National Review,

Do you choose the certain foe in the corrupt oligarchic progressive pathological liar Hillary Clinton, or the unreliable nominal ally in the incoherent authoritarian populist demagogue with the white nationalist/anti-Semitic fans? (Cue Jeopardy! theme.)

...When Donald Trump says, “I gave $1 million” -- past tense -- to veterans, what he really means is, “I haven’t given $1 million, and I will only get around to actually giving it four months later when the press keeps asking me about it.” He also doesn’t feel that you’re entitled to know which veterans’ groups he gave to and how much.

A story of compassion

In the Washington Post Yanan Wang brings us a story of a brave veteran suffering from PTSD and addiction, and a very compassionate judge. The judge sentenced the veteran to 24 hours behind bars, then joined him behind bars.

Ben Carson on veterans

One who is rising in the polls is Dr. Ben Carson. I hope that trend continues. The latest idea from Dr. Carson is to do away with the V.A.

“We don’t need a Department of Veterans Affairs,” Carson said to Dave Ramsey, on the financial planning strategist’s nationally syndicated show. “Veterans Affairs should be folded in under the Department of Defense. And it should be a smooth transition.”

“We need to be looking at the way we take care of soldiers,” he said, adding military recruitment had falled off 14 percent in part to this poor treatment of military members. “[Potential recruits] are looking at what we are doing to our veterans. When a person applies for the military, they should be in a support system immediately from day one. Particularly when they go through combat, because that is when all the trauma is occurring.”

He also said advanced planning for the career and employment needs of veterans was key.

“We should have people in place a year before their time of discharge to be working on their integration back into society,” Carson said. “There shouldn’t be a period of unemployment when they come out of the military.”

Read more here.

Giving thanks

Want to see a video of people expressing thanks? Joe Bell is a 95-year-old veteran of World War II. He wore his uniform while standing outside his house in San Jose, California, cheering on participants during the annual Pat Tillman running race. Remember Pat Tillman? He was a star in the NFL who enlisted and was killed in Afghanistan after 9-11. Go here to read about Joe Bell and watch a video of runners spontaneously coming up to thank him and shake his hand.

Thanks to Ann Voskamp for bringing this story to us.