Today is Veterans Day, and the nation is having its annual festival of hurrahs and heart-tugging nods toward the flag. And then, if the past is any indication, the country will go back to giving veterans about 2 seconds worth of thought each day.
Hopefully, though, the past wont be a guide this year not with the recent massacre at Ft. Hood still fresh in our minds. Nor with reminders from VA Secretary Shinseki that veterans lead the nation in homelessness, depression, substance abuse and suicides. Nor with a new study revealing that more than 2,200 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance. The Obama administration deserves credit for its array of efforts to improve the lot of veterans, but theres still much more to be done.
One important thing the President can do is establish policies that would drastically cut the number of wounded vets coming home from some Third World hellhole, starting with getting American soldiers out of the hopeless, never-ending mess that is Afghanistan.