Our Brothers and Sisters

Today I waited at a McDonalds inside a Walmart while my vehicle was being serviced. I noticed a gentleman that was wearing a ripped up sweater and ripped up pants that he had to hold up so they wouldn't fall off. The sweater was a souvenir sweater for Camp Bonzai in Iraq for 2011. He was obviously homeless and he had a dollar to buy a cup of coffee.

I decided to approach the man and I asked him if he served in Iraq. He told me he did, he was a Seabee in the Navy. I handed him five dollars, I knew that Walmart sales ten dollars jeans, and I offered to buy him one, but he refused, what he would really wanted was a sleeping bag. I unfortunately couldn't afford one at that time. My hope is that I can run into him again and buy him that sleeping bag, what I would really like is to get him off the streets and get him help. He was obviously a drug addict.

There are times I really don't know why I serve. Specially when I see one of my own brothers or sisters living in less than acceptable conditions. Who knows why he was on the streets and doing drugs. Statistically the reason is because veterans are left with no choice but to self medicate with alcohol and illegal drugs, they are left homeless because no one wants to deal with a veteran's mental health problems (http://nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/#demo) .

Last Tuesday during a congressional hearing on the latest invasion incident in the white house, Representative Chaffetz from Utah called for the secret service to next time shoot on site. Not once I heard him talk about the fact that Omar Gonzalez is a Veteran that desperately needed medical support. Not once did he question why a man has gone for so long without assistance from the Government. He was more concerned about shoot first ask later.

At times I forget why sworn a oath to defend the rights and freedoms inherited by the Constitution. I look at some of the people that serve in our government and I am reminded why, because if you and I aren't then this country would have lost our Constitution a long time ago.