Another Generation of Wounded Soldiers

The headline in the July/August edition of the AARP magazine says it all.
“Who’ll Care For Our Wounded Vets?”
An excellent question. I have an answer.
How about the Baby Boom generation?
There are now more than 30,000 injured soldiers who have come home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That doesn’t even count the estimated 300,000 troops who will suffer from mental health issues the next few years.
The 30,000 are young men and women who have lost limbs, suffered head injuries and sustained other permanent injuries. There are a number of reasons for this high casualty rate.
The insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have become experts at planting improvised explosive devices. These are roadside bombs with enough force to knock lumbering tanks onto their sides. In addition, U.S. soldiers are equipped with body armor, high-tech helmets and other equipment that allows them to survive attacks that would have killed men and women in other conflicts. That’s the positive side. The negative side is many of these young troops are returning home with injuries that make it difficult for them to lead a normal life.
The AARP article states that many of the most seriously injured soldiers are being cared for by their parents. In some cases, this has become nearly a full-time job.
As a society, we must take care of all our soldiers who are returning from the battlefront. Whether you were for or against the invasion of Iraq, it’s not right to send young people into a war zone and then not help them when they come back.
This is where the Baby Boom generation can lend a mighty helping hand. Those of us in our late 40s, 50s and early 60s can honor the service of the younger generations now fighting in an unpopular war. We can do so by volunteering in groups that aid these veterans, donating money and other items to worthy causes and even directly helping a family with a wounded vet.
I am in the process of forming a non-profit organization, Boomer Action (boomeraction.org). The overall goal is to encourage Baby Boomers to volunteer and mentor. Our first project will be to convince 30,000 Baby Boomers to sponsor each of the 30,000 injured soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.
This would not only provide a tremendous benefit for society, it would give Baby Boomers a chance to redeem themselves after the shoddy way we treated Vietnam War veterans when they returned home. A double bonus.
If we can find the time and inspiration to take on such a task, when someone in the future asks the question, “Who will take care of our wounded vets?” We can say, “We will.”