Veterans, can you help us?

Veterans a group of people that we should have, and always will have. Respect will always be due to their sacrifice and their service to their nation.

It seems that every day there can be a story found on news sites about our brave service men and women whether it is sadly reporting the death of a soldier in a combat situation or updating the public about what the military has recently acquired from new state of the art weaponry to kits designed to ensure that troops are better protected in combat situations.

But once you move past the active service personnel and move onto those that are retired, or no longer serving, you meet a group of people known as veterans that often have stories to tell that people don’t tend to hear as much of unless its something bad.

Stories about veterans have ranged from the Veterans Affairs Department in the United States failing to provide adequate health care to veterans that would lead to them loosing their lives or the struggles that these government run departments have when it comes to combating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that can be prevalent with Veterans.

Sometimes news outlets run stories about the veteran groups or veterans themselves that are making differences in the community, helping veterans and being there for them when there is a belief that the group is not; and these groups need the not only the support that they are looking for from the community through volunteers that want them to succeed but they need to have their stories told more by the media.

That’s why over the next two years I will be talking to as many veteran groups as I can and telling their stories here on the UK Defence Journal. These organisations will be from around the world from as far as Australia and the United States and even from the UK. The purpose, to share what these amazing groups are doing for veterans in their small way, to tell their stories of how they started, what their goals are and what they have managed to do so far. I believe this is the best way to help these groups in my own capacity and share the stories of veterans that we should be paying attention to; the heroes who have thought in wars and come home to help each other.

I’m not sure how many veteran groups I’ll be able to talk to in the space of two years but the more stories that can be told, the more exposure to this issue that is given can only have a positive impact on a community we should give as much time to as we give to our active service men and women.

If anyone has any suggestions regarding which veteran groups should be featured, please comment below as I personally want to speak to as many as I can and tell their amazing stories.