Saying "Thank You For Your Service" is NOT a DonOLD Trump quote. Instead he said "suckers" and "losers" OMG!

As a Vietnam veteran, I will not be participating in my town’s Veterans Day commemoration this year. Echo opinion letter published in the Boston Globe:  

In 1964, I enlisted in the United States Coast Guard, as did my father in 1942, and as would my nephew in the 1980s. 

After two years of sea duty on a cutter based in New Bedford, I volunteered to stay with my ship when it was ordered to the South China Sea in spring 1967. 

My shipmates and I boarded and searched the many fishing boats and commercial ships in and around the Mekong Delta. We provided fire support to allied units on the ground, rescued downed pilots, and conducted clinics in many of the villages in the area. I was proud of my service.

I have been struggling with my fellow Americans’ choice in this election. I’ve been thinking about President-elect Donald Trump’s previous remarks about US troops, how he’d called fallen service members “suckers” and “losers,” according to his former chief of staff.

My shipmates and I, and hundreds of thousands of men and women in uniform, put ourselves in harm’s way for this country. 

While I do not speak for my fellow veterans, Trump’s election to a second term has me questioning my own service. 

The medals, the pageantry, the many heartfelt “Thank you for your service” comments notwithstanding, I believe our service has been devalued by millions of my fellow Americans. So I’ll be having a quiet lunch Monday with a Vietnam vet buddy, and we’ll try to get over this apparent dismissal of our service as irrelevant. I could cry.
😢
From Jim Canavan  in Scituate, Massachusetts

Veterans healthcare - improvement can be expedited

Letter opinion echo published in the Massachusetts The Patriot Ledger newspaper

Veterans deserve access to quality health care available close to their homes

To the editor:

The chance of dramatically improving health care for veterans by giving them the opportunity to use medical services close to their home has been kicked around for a long time and, sadly, nothing ever happens. It’s really quite simple: the Veterans Administration would pay the provider the same a s Medicare pays for its insured members. No additional staff or medical facilities would be required. Essentially, there is no downside.

This one change could improve the VA’s performance level significantly and allow them to finally provide the level of service that is required for our veterans.

Every article written on this subject has strongly recommended that this change be made as soon as possible. I have written on this subject three times in the past. 

Continue to push this issue with local politicians to see if we can get the ball rolling faster.

William D. Chapman
Captain, US Navy (retired)
Scituate MA