The needs of military veterans are both chronic and acute

Memorial Day at the end of May and Veterans Day on Nov. 11 are fine holidays, but sometimes it seems as if the nation’s veterans of present and long-ago wars are out of sight and out of mind the other 363 days of the year.

And so, reading three stories in two editions of The Vindicator earlier this week was bittersweet.

Sweet because the stories reported on positive efforts being pursued on behalf of our veterans. Bitter because it is obvious that so many of our veterans are in daily need of support for jobs, housing and medical care.

A story by Bill Alcorn Wednesday reported on a Niles mother’s almost frantic efforts to get treatment for her son who was suffering from severe headaches and other complications while home on leave. She was worried not only about his symptoms, which he traces to his vehicle being hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in May, but the possibility that he would be considered AWOL if he didn’t get back to Germany. After some anxious moments, Pfc. Jared Kohn is getting treatment at the VA’s Wade Park Medical Center in Cleveland and his commanding officer in Germany has acknowledged that medical necessity is keeping Kohn from rejoining his unit.

All’s well that ends well, and we can only hope that the soldier’s treatment and recovery progress smoothly from this point on.

Housing and more

A story Thursday by Pete Milliken told of a collaboration between Judge Robert P. Milich of Youngstown Municipal Court, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, and the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority to provide housing for homeless veterans, a special need, according to the outgoing YMHA director, Clifford Scott.

Judge Milich, who presides over veterans’ court, says almost half the veterans he deals with have housing issues. The effort to refurbish a six-unit apartment building near Wick Park will not only save a handsome piece of North Side real estate, it will better the lives of those who live there. Residents will not only have a home, they will have easier access to support services such as mental-health or substance-abuse treatment, the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs medical clinic or job training.

The third story concerned U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s visit to Youngstown State University to discuss the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011 and what it would do to help alleviate unemployment among veterans. The bill is a good idea, and it is encouraging to hear YSU President Cynthia Anderson and Paul Hageman, a YSU student-veteran, discuss what’s being done to provide career alternatives and education for returning service members. Mary Ann Pacelli of the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network was there to talk about a pilot project designed to help returning veterans obtain meaningful manufacturing jobs in Northeast Ohio.

All of those are positive developments, but here’s the problem: Those efforts and more are vitally necessary because the unemployment rate among military veterans is as high as 27 percent. There is no short-term fix for a problem of that depth.

At a time when the nation is facing enormous economic challenges — when we’re reminded every day that 40 cents of every dollar we spend is borrowed — providing for the needs of millions of young and old veterans is not an easy task, but it must be done. Those veterans cannot be seen as an expense that is somehow beyond our means; they must be viewed as a down payment on our principles as a people and as an investment in our future as a nation.