Painting the Wrong Picture for Our Veterans

Alongside the glaring reports of failure by the nation's Veterans Affairs Department, I have also seen an increase in media publications, in the news and in print, which are painting a very dismal picture for our [soon to be] next generation of Veterans, and I for one...don't like it.

The views being expressed as of late, ranging from "a new wave of veterans suffering from PTSD," "The latest findings show veterans are using/abusing pain medication" to, "We will have a major influx of post 9/11 veterans which will require significantly more medical treatment and care than years past," and it is being done using "alarming" borderline, scare tactics on the public.

I would like to take some time to explain, from my point of view, of course, how this is setting our Veterans up to fail, why this is alarming, and why I am very concerned.

We cannot portray all of today's Veterans as those that are troubled, mentally unstable, pain medication taking individuals. They will have enough challenges facing them as they try to re-enter their civilian lives, a life that is completely different than that of the military life they had grown accustomed to and sacrificed for. To pro-actively assign a set of stigmas and/or labels to these Veterans is cruel and unfair, especially when it is generally applied to all!

It is no secret that there are companies out there that bend over backward to hire/help Veterans, to which I graciously applaud you. However, there are also a number of companies that shy away from hiring Veterans! Why? For all of the reasons listed above that are being over-publicized by the media. Add to that list a company's fear or concern that the Veteran may be called up to active duty, thereby putting the company in a position where they 'lose' their employee.

For more insight into this phenomenon, I refer you to the June 2012 case study performed by Margret C. Harrell and Nancy Berglass: "Employing America's veterans." " Perspectives from Businesses," which is readily available on Google.

That same case study cites individual companies suggesting that Veterans need to have more time post-service to "acclimate" to society before entering the civilian workforce, i.e., before the company is "comfortable" with hiring them. My question for those that think this: What is the Veteran doing while you're waiting? Most of our Veterans will not have the luxury to just sit idly by and wait for the civilian society to feel comfortable with them! Your waiting serves as a contributing factor to the problem.

What are Veterans to do when the existing Transition Assistance programs are lacking, and they are basically told to simply go to the VA if they are feeling saddened or depressed (you may have heard something about the VA's issues in recent months)? Add to this, when employers are not willing to extend offers to Veterans due to the again aforementioned list of 'concerns,' you now have Veterans with no place to turn, and this creates a vicious cycle!

To break this cycle, perhaps we can start by encouraging our media to decrease the over-publicizing of potential issues our Veterans will face, in a negative light. Most of the country knows of these issues already. What's more important here is to be there, at the ready for our Veterans, assisting our Veterans, and welcoming our Veterans with the proper opportunities and support structure.

The emphasis needs to shift to the companies, support groups, outreach programs, educational institutions, and of course, the daunted VA system so that we can prepare them and steer them toward our Veterans, not scare them away from our Veterans. We have proven enough times in the past how capable and [unfortunately] willing we can be as a nation to turn our back on our Veterans, let's not do that again with this generation. Don't wait! Prepare, and at the end of the day, I think we can do a better job of how we are disseminating this information to the public.

Stephen Robey is a full member of the Marine TWS since Aug. 2013. The native of Illinois served in the USMC from 1986-1990.