I believe Veteran’s Day should be extended to a month-long celebration in acknowledgment and honor of all those who gave their lives in service to our country. Every call to service is a sacrifice that deserves recognition and gratitude, and extending the celebration of Veterans Day can help ensure that all veterans feel appreciated for their contributions.
We often think sacrifice goes along with the ultimate gift of giving one’s life in service, but the sacrifices made by veterans who return home should also be recognized. Their lives have been forever and profoundly changed by their service, and they deserve our support beyond just one day of recognition.
A whole month of society not doing, nothing meaningful, but thanking veterans for their service while much more is going on that needs fixing. A lot of veterans have become homeless, or at risk of becoming, homeless after covid and inflation. Simple words Thank You For Your Service compared to sacrifice isn’t enough. Paying compensation to veterans for their injuries and that monthly compensation isn’t enough to pay the rent plus put food on the table. Simple words Thank You For Your Service isn’t enough. This bill below goes far enough to state no veteran in the United States of America will be homeless, and their service will always be appreciated.
This bill is to direct funding to The Department of Veterans Affairs to eliminate veteran homelessness by paying service connected disabled veterans a monthly Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) at the rental market rate. Veterans will have the funding monthly needed to obtain housing in this housing crisis. Inflation continues to outpace veterans compensation, making it impossible for veterans to obtain housing. Public donations will never end veteran homelessness, and it’s just another way for businesses to make money off of veterans instead of paying veterans directly at the federal level BAH and protecting the veterans’ privacy. The VA currently gives businesses VA grants and by giving businesses VA grants the VA no longer regards the veteran’s privacy nor do they monitor how these businesses safeguard veterans’ records to ensure the veteran’s privacy is protected according to HIPAA. These businesses are allowed to request record releases a VA records and the veteran’s service records to prove they are veterans having their service connected disabilities. There are veterans that not only have injuries from war, but medical conditions like cancers and a host of other medical issues that should be protected from disclosure from a random business simply applying for a VA grant. Veterans seeking financial and housing assistance sign these record releases under duress just to get immediate rental assistance, and the VA gives them access to the veterans files. These businesses have no right gaining personal access to veteran’s records. VA grants come from the VA and should be paid directly to veterans in the form of BAH to keep businesses out of the personal records of veterans. Plus, once that money is paid, that business doesn’t have the oversight of the VA and can do disgruntle things like cause for a rent payment to be late and jeopardize the veteran for getting another lease. No business receiving VA grants should require veterans that have been approved for rental assistance to update them monthly on everything going on in the veteran’s life, unless the veteran wants this privacy invasion. Now, if the veteran objects to this invasion of privacy, businesses like Endeavors will cause for the veteran’s rent to be late and Landlords will send out 3 day vacate notices. The veteran will become panicked thinking they’re about to be evicted, and homeless Endeavor’s disgruntle staff caseworkers will get some kind of kick out of this as they make up lies to cover their disgruntle actions. End VA grants to businesses and keep veteran records stored and protected within the VA. Create a financial department on every VA that will oversee monthly BAH payments to service disconnected veterans. To eliminate all veteran homelessness, start a build project to create veteran bases that offer affordable housing where the rent is determined by a percentage of the veteran’s disability compensation to ensure veterans do not end up homeless and their service is forever honored. Name the veterans base after the first president to end veteran homelessness. Every street on the veteran’s base will be named after a fallen solider. Museums on the base will document the history of the military and honor fallen soldiers. A VA hospital and a commissary can be added to the veterans base, so veterans have easy access to what they need. The VA will be mandated to mail out the Veterans Health Benefits Handbook to keep veterans informed about all updates and changes to healthcare. The VA will be mandated to provide free medical transportation to the VA for all service connected veterans. It’s ashamed to have VA healthcare, but can’t get to the VA. Veterans will be surveyed about their experience with the VA and allow for detailed input, so the VA will know whether they are providing quality service to veterans. All surveys will go through the White House to keep the VA professional. Employees that treat our veterans badly will be terminated.
As a veteran, I appreciate your suggestion and gratitude for the sacrifices made by those who have served Jonathan. Generally speaking though, veteran’s are a humble bunch who tend to feel somewhat uneasy being spotlighted. So I feel a single day dedicated to the acknowledgement of their service and sacrifices made by veterans and their family is proper.
I would add, if our country wishes to demonstrate its appreciation and gratitude for our veterans, in addition to November 11th, perhaps ensuring the VA healthcare system offers reliable, timely and state of the art medical care for veterans would be comforting and valued.