Support Vetsconnect
This video brought me to tears the first time I watched it. It is the most accurate portrayal of what I went through ,in a shortened summed up Hollywood fashion. With two wars raging for over ten years, Afghanistan being Americas longest running war ever scenes like these are all too common
I am on a mission to start a new steemit category dedicated to veterans helping veterans. in reality anyones help would be accepted. I want to call it Vetsconnect. That is exactly what I want it to do. I want to connect sick and suffering combat veterans with other sick and suffering veterans along with veterans that have re3covered from the suffering and can provide an understanding ear and the coping skills that worked for them.
I was almost a statistic. Three years after returning home and being discharged I was at the end of my rope. I had been self medicating with amounts of substances that should have killed thirty grown men. I will spare the gory details of my suicide attempt but I will say this, before I did what I did, I opened a line of communication with my higher power I call God. I said , this is what I'm doing and if its all the same to you I will see you soon, if I wake up , then I guess you have bigger plans for me. Well I did what I did and woke up six days later in the intensive care unit of Tampa General Hospital. God had a bigger plan for me. That was in 2010. It is now almost eight years later and I am the Father of an amazing four year old girl that is my driving force in life. I am a pretty successful cabinet maker. But most of all I don't need to bury my feelings so deep that I fall in the hole with them. I got better by talking with other veterans about the horrible things I was forced to do to keep my brothers and myself alive. we talked about dealing with the feeling of being unsuccessful at it sometimes. survivors guilt. We got everything on the table in a way that only people that have shared similar experiences and feelings about those experiences can.
My new mission in life ,that I believe has been chosen for me, is to do this. Actually this will just be the beginning. I have big plans and ideas. But as they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. The first step was me recovering. The second step is bringing recovery to the brothers and sisters that I am able to. This is where I start step two of my journey. I am asking for help in getting the word out that veterans can come here for help and support.
The powers that be in this country should be embarrassed about the epidemic of homeless veterans and veterans suicide rates. More and more veterans are coming home from going through actual hell on earth and not being given the resources to get the help they need to get their heads back on straight. Most combat veterans are in their early to mid twenties. They were most likely fed a patriotic line of bull about how they are fighting for freedom and democracy , fighting against oppression around the world and stopping terrorism from reaching our shores. While the military does do these things, sometimes, most vets come home pissed off that their friends lost limbs or lives fighting a war that people don't agree with, for good reason. Its no secret that todays wars are fought for political reasons that are designed to line the pockets of the elite aristocracy. I don't want to go off the rails ,because I certainly can, my point is that a lot of anger is created when the dream is over and the nightmare begins. I don't want anyone to feel that they are alone in this fight. That is my endgame.
This gem of a post was discovered by the OCD Team!
Reply to this comment if you accept, and are willing to let us share your gem of a post! By accepting this, you have a chance to receive extra rewards and one of your photos in this article may be used in our compilation post!
You can follow @ocd – learn more about the project and see other Gems! We strive for transparency.
I am honored by anyone that thinks my posts are worth resteeming. I couldn't refuse any extra exposure. I thank you for taking the time to read my content and comment. I have followed you and I'm interested in what you are doing as well. Thank you with all sincerity for your support. ++keep on steemin on++
All my respect resteemit and upvote
That is awesome Juanmallorca. Thank you for the support. I'm honored that you like what I am trying to do and will get behind it. I returned the follow. its the least I can do. Please spread the word about #vetsconnect.
Keep on steemin on
I know , I been in the army wen starting the war of Yugoslavia, cosovo , I understand war and wend come back home , good luck my friend
And follow , is brilliant
@stay-in-the-gray, Excellent introduction post for #vetsconnect. Resteemed and upvoted to help get the word out!
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I was never big on other social media sites so making quality posts with real content is somewhat new. your compliment gives me confidence that I'm on the right . path. I have big ideas for helping my suffering brothers and sisters and you upvoting and resteeming my vetsconnect posts is the best help I could ask for. I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart.
God bless and keep steeming
Semper fi and semper steem
@stay-in-the-gray, your posts are very well written! I will definitely do everything I can to promote #vetsconnect.
I cant thank you enough mitneb. I cant put a value on your support , especially this early in the life of vetsconnect. It needs all the exposure it can get to help it grow.
Great report and an excellent introduction, regards @stay-in-the-gray
Thank you oscarps for taking the time to read my post and reply. Comments like yours are reassuring. Steemit is really my first attempt at public writing, so I am still somewhat uncertain of the quality of skills and content I am putting out. Positive replies like yours let me know that I am doing allright. Thank you again oscarps and keep on steemin on
A pleasure, if I confirm that you are doing well, I would like to read more of your works, regards @stay-in-the-gray
Resteemed and upvoted.
thank you for your support chieppa1. those three words, resteemed and upvoted, say more than a whole editorial about the post could. to me, anyways, it means you agree with what i am trying to do and are willing to get behind my cause and support the vision of vetsconnect. that s the world to me. i sincerely thank you.
No problem. I did link to your project in my podcast episode post tonight.
sad, i was against the Iraq war and against the ongoing maiming and death of so many for violence that solves nothing. how many more people have been sacrificed pursuing the "honor" and "vengeance" for those that died in 9/11. 16 years later we are still in war.
although i am a patriot, i bleed red white and blue and love this country enough to give my life for it, i agree with you clumsysilverdad. There is plenty of evidence that shows 9/11 was an inside job, the wars that followed had nothing to do with defending human rights and spreading democracy, i was about eliminating threats to the petro dollar that our economy subsists on and creating a boogyman for bloated budget excuses and cover stories to strip the citizens of more and more constitutional rights and freedoms. sadam was going to sell oil for gold and othermiddle eastern currencies, kadhaffi was going to sell oil for dinars or darfurs , whatever the gold coin currency is in north Africa. We have long standing deals with the Saudi's, why do you think they get away with all they do. OLPEC made a deal with the U.S.a long time ago (about a minute before we went off the gold standard) that all barrels of oil will be sold in U.S dollars (hence petrodollar) anyone that tries to cut out the us and sell for other currencies will start a domino effect and destroy the value of the dollar. They will stop at nothing to avoid this. The war in Syria, that has one side funded by the state dept and the other side funded by the cia and DoD is strictly over rights to the natural gas and oil pipelines that run from the middle east to supply Europe. i believe there are four major ones and syria is the chokepoint that they all must run through. My eyes have been opened wide since i was a young Marine.
thank you for your comments and perspective. i follow several anti-war veteran's groups on twitter. i am not a military person, but i do understand and appreciate the need to defend a country. however, like you say, nearly everything that is being done is for empire and economic control. Thanks for speaking out as it takes a lot of brave voices to cut through the morass of the daily propaganda / peace
It's a damn shame that we cannot properly support our vets. Glad you've taken to writing about it and sharing your experiences here on Steemit @stay-in-the-gray.
I see endless potential for your vetsconnect efforts, on this platform alone. I also see a lot of value in vets openly describing their experiences, as it's generally a taboo topic for us civilians to really engage in and try to understand. Best to you.
Thank you maven360. i agree with everything you said. i too noticed the potential Steemit has to do something like #vetsconnect. That has to be why i never had the idea until now even though other social media platforms are out there. i just dont think that Facebook has the same sense of community, and its too cansored and politicaly misaligned with my mission and views. You are also dead on about the taboo of civilian combat speak, however, I want the public to engage in #vetsconnect. The more the public supports #vetsconnect, reads contributors content and asks meaningful intelligent questions ( not, did you kill anyone over there or, whats it like to kill someone . those two never cease to piss me off more than anything. ) Eventually the masses may understand that the 28 year old alcoholic drug addict homeless veteran didnt " bring it on himself " or " just didn't try hard enough " and most of all couldn't "just get over it". I know these arent the days of Vietnam where the war AND people fighting it are unpopular. People have a little more love for vets these days, i want to bring them the understanding that is so important to our healing