Help veterans all year

I'm late in my thanks to veterans this year.

Since this column runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays, I wasn't able, on Veterans Day, to join the chorus of voices honoring the men and women who have served in our military.

So, a little late but from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.

By now, the uniforms have been packed away, the breakfasts and luncheons and receptions cleaned up - our attention has turned, as it always does, to the next holiday or task or diversion.

But there's more to think about in the shadow of Thursday's celebration. Veterans Day has passed, but the grim realities many vets are faced with remain - in some cases, growing worse, despite our public declarations of support for our troops.

Maybe because military deployments are coming faster, with less time between for troops to recover from the shock of conflict, more troops are coming home with PTSD and other disorders.

In recent years, the backlog of Veterans Affairs and disability claims has been growing - not shrinking.

The rate of suicide among our veterans is startling, and growing.

In July, the Army released a suicide prevention report that showed military leaders have dropped the ball on tracking and monitoring common signs of suicidal troops: reckless behavior, substance abuse.

Veterans in this country are more likely than civilians to suffer mental health and substance abuse problems. Homelessness among veterans is shamefully high - advocates say as many as one-third of the U.S. homeless population are veterans.

In 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs served more than

92,000 veterans through specialized programs to fight homelessness. That's a huge number; still, it's less than half the number of vets who could use those services, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

Only about a third of our 23 million U.S. veterans are even registered with the Department of Veterans Affairs, able to claim their rightly earned benefits such as health care, education credits and home loans.

I'm grateful for the groups that reached out to Corridor veterans in ceremonies and through smaller thank you events Thursday - they're an important part of celebrating Veterans Day.

But it's not enough to honor veterans' sacrifice in a single day of ceremonies and meals. To truly honor veterans, we must help in their ongoing battles against poverty, homelessness, illness, despair.

We owe at least that much.

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jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net