Monday, November 12, 2007
My Missed Claim to Fame
I almost had my 15 minutes of fame. I often read BBC News online and last week they had an article about homeless veterans in the US. I added an online comment about my experiences as a vet. Basically, I mentioned that I'd worried a bit about that when retirement loomed near. I'd seen very many old vets just vegging out in coffee shops or sitting in the mall near the last base I was stationed at. I should add that it was Castle AFB in California, at one time a popular place to retire from, and now closed.
To make a long story short, I didn't end up like that and instead got my Bachelors (with Honors) and Masters degree, both with a 4.0 GPA four years after retiring. Over the twenty-two years of my career, the government did stick it to me a few times and did take some of what they said they'd give me away, but I figure that's par for the course.
Anyway, BBC called my home that day and sent an email asking if I'd be interested in participating in a discussion group on BBC World News. I told them I did and even mentioned it to several people about what and when I was doing. Naturally, the assigned time came and went with no contact from the BBC. So all my excitement was for naught. They did call back after the show and said I wasn't going to be on it - duh. I kinda figured that after the show was in progress sans yours truly.
From the slant of the show it seemed they wanted to emphasize the minority of vets who had problems rather the majority of vets who didn't and especially the minority who had mostly good stuff to say. If you went into the military expecting to be taken care of ever after, I really think you joined for the wrong reason. There are a lot of avenues out there for American vets to get help. I'm not saying the system is perfect - far from it - but I haven't run into a lot of problems with it. The system fed, clothed and housed me while I was in, helped me in the transition from GI to civilian, and continues to offer me help. My situation was probably better than some, but when life hands you some broken eggs, just scramble them with some cheese and make an omelet.
Labels: government, military
