Bring back Armistice Day

“Flags flew, and veterans were thanked for their service.” Doesn’t that warm the shrapnel in my heart on 12 November?

Waiting in the telephone queue, again, to lobby for VA authorization for my outsourced health care, I read about less-fortunate vets who drove by the VA hospital for donated handouts that resemble assistance they’ve denounced for huddled masses who never “served” to make the world safe for the next war. I pity the clueless vets who appreciated the appearance of our U.S. representative there. She warns against letting the government get between us and health care while giving corporations priority at the trough and ensuring more and younger vets have perpetual needs with festering moral wounds from senseless, illegal wars.

Veterans are accorded lip service every day, regardless of what we’ve done or what we need. Must you thank me for my 1960s terrorism for corporate hegemony? That was my service in the U.S. military. What’s new? I plead for Armistice Day, again.

Rusty Nelson

Rockford, Wash.