Is Thanking Our War Vets Enough???

Today is Remembrance Day, a day that we take time out to reflect on the World Wars I & II as well as many other wars that have taken place since. A day to thank a Veteran. But shouldn't we thank them every day? These are people who fought to ensure that freedom and (hopefully) good prevailed. Sometimes what I see happening to people in the military saddens me. Why is it that Vietnam Vets, who only did what they were told to do, live in suffering, mentally and physically, sometimes on the streets, sometimes addicted? These are people who followed orders, some losing their life in the process (and maybe those are the lucky ones). Imagine the atrocities that these men and women saw, and now live with. It is a shame that there are people who fought for our freedom, living on the streets. It is a shame that the disabled ones are living on a disability pension that hardly covers the cost of living. I did a search and found a chart that applies to American Military... A Veteran who has a disability of 70-100% and has a spouse and one child is eligible for a benefit of $2932 per month. If they have more than one child, there is an additional amount added of up to $75 (under 18), up to $250 (in college/university) per child. (having children myself, I can assure you that it costs much more than that to raise a child). There are Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment programs in place as well, but the bottom line is, do we do enough for our Vets? (this is in the US, I'm not sure about Canada) Some stats I found are sobering. In the United States, approximately 107,000 Vets are homeless and another 1.5 million are at risk of being homeless because of living in poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded and substandard housing. HOW IN THE WORLD DOES THIS HAPPEN? We pay athletes millions of dollars to play sports and yet men and women are leaving their families behind for a pittance. This world has it's priorities all messed up. Why should someone who acts/sings/plays sports make millions while someone who heads off to potentially DIE for your freedom make barely enough to support their family. They miss out on births, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, recitals, school plays, graduations, weddings, and funerals, to ensure that we don't have to and yet they are left to fend for themselves in droves. Something has to change.... Thank a Vet, find out if there are any in your community living on the street, and bless them in some way. Demand change...