A lot of people ask how can we support our veterans, and my answer is, "If they are a little wobbly I take their left elbow with my right hand, and clutch their left wrist with my left hand. That way they can walk with more stability."
I used to transport vets going to and from medical appointments.
I learned a lot during those years, with the San Francisco VA Fort Miley Hospital as the starting point of short and long journeys.
As a suburban peacenik, 11 years old in 1967, I hated everything to do with Vietnam and found it hard to humanize soldiers tasked with the ultimate aggression.
But 50 years later I listened to their stories, filled with unimaginable fear and loss sometimes thrust back into their daily lives decades later by the effects of Agent Orange.
I learned a lot more about what it is to be Black in America, both as a veteran returning home and as a man walking city streets.
As we celebrate #VeteransDay, let's remember the sacrifices that linger. Let's understand the reflexes at the core of PTSD. This is not a day for left and right, only red, white, and blue.
Even a #ProgressivePatriot like me sees no value in citing most elements of politics today. Today we honor the people inside the uniforms.
If you see our National Guard in your city, don't berate them. Just tell them that you hope that they're back with their families soon, back at their regular jobs.
Remember, their own oaths dictate that they will not touch you or aim at you. Constitutional barriers will survive this Trumpian anomaly.
But today is also a day to advocate for the better treatment of our vets, something that is compromised and even abandoned by our current Commander in Chief as eloquently stated by Rep. Eric Swalwell:
https://bsky.app/profile/ericswalwell.bsky.social/post/3m5es5xwisc2t
Gutting the VA's essential services is one of those little-known #TrumpProject2025Billionaire travesties. They even went after the VA's suicide prevention office.
Since January I've been calling out Trump's #RepubloFascist #ProSTRIFE agenda for inflicting needless economic and physical hardships on most of America. But not staffing phones when veterans are in that kind of crisis is completely inhuman.
Of all the kinds of shame that history should levy on Trump and his Project 2025 enablers, shouldn't that be right on the very top?
Please share that wherever you can.
