Over the years the US government has thrown billions of dollars at veterans issues in an attempt to solve the multiple problems facing veterans. They fund the Veterans’ Administration to the tune of well over $350 billion, successfully enriching VA workers while failing to solve any problems. Their answer to that failure is to hire more VA employees and add yet more layers of personnel between veterans and providers. They offer mental health provided by professions with the highest incidence of mental illness issues, most of whom have never experienced anything remotely like the Hell on Earth that veterans are forced to endure. These are the solutions of academics with no real world experience.
If you want to solve veterans’ issues, you need to stop throwing money at other people and start talking to veterans about what they need. Talking to so-called “experts” who are nothing of the sort when it comes to what veterans must endure is NOT one of those things. Veterans need the right to choose their own treatments, their own providers, and their own type of mental and psychological providers. Veterans deserve the right to make their own decisions about their health and welfare, without government control.
To that end, I believe the best step toward solving these issues is to take the closed military bases in our inventory and any bases slated for future closure and turn them over to veterans to be turned in to veteran communities. Fix the buildings or provide the materials to do so; provide the hospitals and clinics with necessary equipment to take care of community healthcare, and allow the veterans to decide who will run and staff that hospital. And let them choose from among their own number, those who will lead those communities as mayors and councils, and those who will liaise with the government on the continuing needs of those communities.
That would solve the problem of homelessness, and the base facilities would give veterans a place to practice whatever skills they have or choose to learn. The shops are there for those who would like to run them, workshops for others to make things to sell to or at the shops, open fields for those who wish to farm or raise animals, and some bases actually have self-sufficient power plants as well. Some bases also have full-scale hotels which can be used either for drawing tourism into the local area, or for military personnel and veterans who are looking for a little time away from everything.
Many veterans never use their educational benefits. Such a community would give them the opportunity to do so, setting up educational centers for those who choose solitary study, or bringing in special instructors or classes to teach those who choose how to run the various facilities of which the base is comprised, including apprenticeship programs for any who are interested in learning craftsmanship skills. Compared to the alternatives that have been offered, this would be a very cost-effective method to help veterans gain the skills they need (or exercise the skills they have) while providing them with a support network of individuals who have shared experiences. I would honestly be looking forward to “story and one-upmanship” night at the club.
The idea is not to close the veterans off from the civilian population. That’s generally not a good idea; we need that interaction and so do they. Besides, the community would also need a market to take advantage of the things that are crafted and grown there. It would, however, provide veterans the opportunity to “shut the doors” and take care of their own when the need arises.
This would be an ideal situation to also create a pool of individuals who are trained to act. The best thing any city can have is a nearby community of veterans who will instantly appear and actually accomplish things when a disaster strikes, who know how to lead and how to take orders, and who have been trained to instinctively throw themselves between danger and those who face it. Even disabled veterans have a lot to offer in such situations. But imagine multiple former military bases with self sufficient veterans who can, with the proper incentives and planning, become the basis for a nationwide disaster relief force that can respond within hours to problems in their regions, instead of waiting for a political entity like FEMA to decide who “deserves” aid.
Each community will take time to build. Facilities will need to be repaired to ensure they are in good working order, and the time spent repairing them would also be an excellent opportunity for those veterans who choose to learn how those repairs are made. It will take time for the base to reach the point of self-sustainment, but it can be done, and it can be done in a cost effective manner if the path to get there includes a little left seat/right seat training. There are so many companies out there that are veteran friendly; how many do you suppose would be willing to throw some expertise and money at actually helping to establish such a community?
Such communities can be maintained by government funds in cases where those community members are willing to be on call volunteers to help with national emergencies. Those communities who choose to become independent will eventually have to be funded by collecting from each person in the community; a form of “tax” designed to maintain the infrastructure. Barracks buildings can be converted to apartments, although every community should have at least one building set aside for veterans in need of “emergency” shelter. Mess facilities can be used as community dining halls, or converted to restaurants. A community dining hall is something else that would need to be funded, although much of the food could be locally grown. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone else feed you, particularly after a long day of hard work.
We should not have to fight the federal government to get the benefits that were promised to us. Veterans and soldiers commit suicide because they no longer have the strength to face that battle. That is not acceptable. I honestly told my Senator in a letter that if I had to go to battle with the federal government one more time to force them to give me the benefits they promised me, then I was going to go to Mexico, renounce my citizenship, and come back as an illegal alien because then I wouldn’t have to PROVE that I deserved the benefits I was promised. He wrote me back a letter that I’m sure was a canned response, because he wanted to know what he could do to help me. I responded that I was pretty sure I could get to Mexico on my own, but if my car broke down on the way I might call and ask to borrow his limo.
I know that veterans have been treated even more disgracefully in the past, and the many veterans groups out there deserve a lot of credit for making things better. But, as happens after every war that leaves us with a plethora of veterans who are wounded in both mind and body, it is time for us to make our voices heard. Very few groups can match the collective roar of the veterans. These problems are not being solved by others; so now it’s time to give us our turn.
This proposal has been vetted by multiple veterans on different social media platforms and thus far the response from them has been entirely positive. So now the question to the country is, do you really want to help them by giving them what they believe they need, or are you only interested in giving them what you want them to have?
