Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) has started a public awareness campaign for returning veterans, and as part of this campaign, they have released this video (“Alone”) and launched Community of Veterans, a veterans only website dedicated to developing a support network for OIF/OEF veterans.
IAVA is also launching a website aimed to support friends and families of those same veterans at Support Your Vet. That website is to be launched soon.
We Moose understand intuitively the value of blogs and internet communities for supporting one another. I am pleased to see IAVA taking this next big leap in helping our veterans. Although I cannot understand the pain that they have gone through, the very thought that any one of them feels alone when coming home is truly heartbreaking.
It’s almost Thanksgiving here in our football-loving and turkey-eating country. I hope that you will consider thanking a service member when you see one in uniform the next time. I often stop them in the airport, never knowing whether they are coming home or going (back) to war — could this moment be one of their last — I’m always feeling humbled by their presence. Small acts of kindness, such as offering thanks, truly mean a lot to our military men and women (at least to all that I have asked and thanked). Our veterans share a special bond with one another, but we can all welcome them home, take a brief moment to make them feel a little less alone, and thank them for their willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice in service of our great country.
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