I live in Los Angeles.

[Joe for Clark]

Some of you do too.

Go to the VA - talk to them. What they really want is someone to talk to. They know they are dieing.

Memorial way = near the 405 -

joe

[nam78_two]

1. ...

:kick:

[enigmatic]

2. K&R

Proudly.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. VA Hospital down in Long Beach, too - near the 405

Thanks for the important reminder.

And a lot of the homeless on our inner city streets are vets.

[Joe for Clark]

6. Boy is that true.

What happened to those kids from the last war can NEVER be allowed again.

Card carrying member of Inner City Ministries.

You go Rev Fred!! And I am catholic - but they have it right - and I recognize ture christianity in all forms. And personally I think the quakers down toward the port have got it right. Especially Fred.

There is NO EXCUSE for what they did to our vets from the nam - at all. They were good kids, just like our kids are now - I do not understand why people like Fred are left to pick up the pieces of their lives - how can that happen in our country???

This is just not right.

Joe

[Greyhound]

29. It is not right, and let's be honest, it is entirely OUR fault.

We are the people that ignored them, we are the people that refuse to apply the pressure our "representatives" need applied to make the changes needed to mitigate the problems we created.

[Joe for Clark]

33. Lets take the first step now.

Absolutely right - we did ignore them.

Joe

[Monkeyman]

4. Promise being kept

Joe you rock

[Joe for Clark]

7. No - I am an opinionated asshole.

I know that. I am the only male in my family not to fight a war - I am it.

But when I say I love those kids - I do. From Ft Ord to Leonard Wood - I watched those kids - all these years, and they deserve to be treated with this kind of respect. They earned at least that.

And when they are dieing - they at least deserved to be listened to, at least that.

Joe

[Joe for Clark]

5. We need to all go.

I haven't been to the VA in many years. I met people that were at the Marnes. I met people that fought death daily in Bastogne - now they were dieing and no one came.

They just want to talk. They have no one.

I am going back - most definately. I am sorry I didn't now - what ever the reasons I had.

You go too. Some of the best people I ever met died in that goddamn hospital.

Joe

[faithnotgreed]

8. absolutely k&r

so very many people are ignored/stepped over in our culture - those who are simply lonely and in need of someone who cares enough to just reach out
you never know what you will find ...

thank you so much for posting this reminder

[Joe for Clark]

9. I think we should all go. I'll go with you.

Joe

[faithnotgreed]

16. thats another beautiful gesture joe but i dont think that would work for you

i live in washington

but of course there are many places with people in need and va centers all across the country so we all can help someone

[northofdenali]

10. Joe...

:hug:

[Joe for Clark]

11. You have a good picture there -

It is the way it is.

There are just our kids in a very strange place.

And they are just kids.

Joe

[northofdenali]

12. Yes, this picture was a gift.

I'm headed to the Vet Center tomorrow - it's cold here, and I've found some extra blankets, gloves and flannel shirts.

It is the way it is.

:loveya:

[noshenanigans]

13. question

I am actually sorry to say that I am very familiar with that VA but only because I used to take a shortcut through their parking lot. Anyway, if you are interested in visiting someone at the VA but dont have anyone family-related, what are the procedures? Do you just go, or should you phone in advance? I knit and make hats and socks a lot and have a few to give away, and as Im 3000 miles away from my Air Force and Army vet family that might be a nice way to spent some time. Thanks for any help!

[babylonsister]

14. I don't know the answer, but a volunteer to talk or read or help in any way

you can I would think would be admirable. Maybe call the VA and ask what you might do, or just show up might be better. But thank you for even considering it. :loveya:

[Joe for Clark]

18. I don't remember any special procedures.

It is true I was there because my brother worked there at the time - but they didn't know that and nobody ever asked me why I was there.

Used to be a big day room on the 2nd floor. I just walked in there one day and started talking to the guys. Just like that.

They didn't get too many visitors - that was clear to me.

Joe

[calimary]

23. My kid's Cub Scout troop always went there for the holidays to

sing Christmas carols.

That VA mentioned in the OP isn't terribly far from me. Many of us locals participated in a rather furious campaign to save the entire compound from developers. Greedy real estate profiteers were eyeing dozens of acres on the north side of a main thoroughfare (that more or less runs down the middle of the VA grounds) there. They wanted to turn it into some big-ass mega-shopping mall!!! Just STEAL ALL THAT GROUND, roughly HALF the VA compound, and make it a "shopping town." NO interest in realistic environmental impact statements or traffic flow/impact studies or overcrowding and congestion considerations WHATSOEVER. And at the expense of land that BELONGS TO OUR VETERANS!!! Where there are offices, and living quarters, and counseling services, and outpatient facilities!!! We had several community meetings about it and complained bitterly to Henry Waxman, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer about it - AND GOT IT STOPPED, THANK GOD!!!

The really pathetic part of this is that within two or three miles as the crow flies, there are at least THREE MAJOR shopping malls/theater/office complexes, PLUS an entire "college town-type" community filled with stores and boutiques and restaurants and movie theaters WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE of the VA, plus big boulevards LINED with stores, boutiques, mini-malls, offices, and restaurants that run all through there, many of them rawther chi-chi. AND, Beverly Hills is just five minutes away from there. It's NOT as though there isn't MORE THAN ENOUGH shopping potential ALREADY, along with the ungodly traffic and parking and pedestrian nightmares that go with it (PLUS the fact that the economy's not great here in West L.A., either, and there are lots of storefronts that are vacant all over the place. This whole idea was utterly mentally ill. But the fact that they'd be taking away property THAT BELONGS TO OUR VETS, quite a few of whom you can see walking the streets at night, at loose ends, old, shuffling, poor, scruffy, and alone, is just plain SINFUL. We fought it alright. And we stopped it. I was totally shocked that somebody even had the gall to suggest such a fucked idea to begin with!!!

Unfortunately, though, it's only one maneuver we've had to fight off, that involves somebody looking with greedy eyes at that VA property. A few years ago, some asshole developers even talked about taking some of that property and building an NFL stadium there. Oh yeah. GREAT. Fucking FABULOUS. JUST what we need in an already too-high-density area... :eyes: Fortunately, that idea never got off the ground, either.

[Joe for Clark]

24. GREAT POST!!!

Joe

[calimary]

25. Thanks. It STILL galls me TO THIS DAY.

I CANNOT believe the greed. The GREED!!! I'm surprised these bastards didn't try for the whole crapshoot, and go for the rest of the VA compound on the south side of Wilshire Blvd - where the actual hospital is. Why didn't they try to wipe THAT out, too? ASSHOLES!!! Just ASSHOLES!!! These old gents have NOWHERE ELSE to go. They can't afford housing anywhere on the Westside as I'm sure you know, what with the prices even for rentals. There are no other facilities for them. No other care for them. It's just awful. AWFUL!!!

Some of the high schools in the area send kids over to the VA to do month-long community service projects. My daughter's boyfriend had the whole month of January off so he could do 80 hours' worth. It's really worthwhile, and it opens the young 'uns' eyes.

Since you live near there, have you ever seen the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts putting all the little flags out on the graves at the VA cemetery over there? They do it every Memorial Day weekend, starting at 7:30am. Must be four or five thousand kids from all over So Cal swarming all over the cemetery with those little flags. My kid did it with his Cub Scout troop all the way from Tiger Cub status - into his First Class Scout years. It always made me cry. I never knew how all those little flags got placed on all those graves until we got into Cub Scouts. It was also interesting, btw, to observe how the ceremonies that kicked off the flag placement event evolved over the span of the war in Iraq. The first couple of years it was nauseating. Rah-rah-rah war in Iraq. God Bless "our pResident" and all that crap. Really horrendous and aggressive and jingoistic. One time I even stood with my back turned in protest. By the third year, the speakers were significantly more circumspect, and one of them even paid tribute to those of us who'd objected to the war, noting OUR patriotism, too. Quite remarkable, I thought. The timbre of the presentation noticeably changed. Actually gave me hope. There were always lots of liberals in our Scout troop, and it was clear there were lots of liberals in other troops present, also.

[Joe for Clark]

26. I have seen them.

I never really knew who put them there.

And I cry too.

Joe

[calimary]

28. Yep. Credit the Crescent Bay District.

Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies, Tiger Cubs and Daisies. It's amazing. Really fascinating to watch, just sorta stand back and take it all in. There are bleary-eyed parents clutching their Starbucks cups, still trying to wake up, there are little kids and even younger siblings. There are teenagers in various stages of jadedness (like my kid, who didn't like the paramilitary aspect of Scouting and finally bailed - didn't quite make it to Star Scout). Families. Some of them actually went around looking for the graves of relatives. I remember one year when some kid actually found the grave of a great uncle. It was on the news (because there are always local news crews there to cover it). Very poignant, always. One time Ahnold showed up, but it's only been once. And the kids always are eager to see them shoot the cannon, which they do at the end of the ceremony. It's rather fascinating and incongruous to see all the graves - THOUSANDS of them - the somberness and silence of death - and many graves from the early 1900's and even farther back - and at the same time, this wild, explosive exuberance of life and youth and light with all these kids racing around willy-nilly, their shirttails out and their uniforms all coming undone, giggling and joshing with each other and planting flags (and inevitably getting a little carried away and raucous) and hapless adults and Scoutmasters trying in vain to keep order. It's amazing, really. This HUGE burst of activity on a Saturday morning after about 20 minutes of pageantry, and then within a couple of hours it's all over, and all is still again, and the only sign that there was any activity at all can be found in all those little flags. THOUSANDS of them. Every grave gets one.

The last one we went to, I coaxed my son to wake up for (even though he was already pulling away from Boy Scouts, emotionally), in May of 2006. I told him he should just get up and suck up and do it to honor our veterans. And I was so disappointed! After things had started mellowing as I said in an earlier post here, and this one was proceedings pretty nicely, they brought out this one guy whose speech was nothing but a recruitment pep-talk. I wanted to stand up and SCREAM, then and there!!! We left shortly thereafter, and I apologized to my kid for dragging him to it, because he was really pissed off. He's very anti-war, and he'd picked up on the enlistment hard-on in that speech, too. At that point, I quit lobbying for him to stay in Boy Scouts ('cause it looks good on the college application, especially if you make it to Eagle Scout). It just wasn't worth it anymore, and it just ruined an otherwise deeply-moving, thought-provoking, reverent experience (which is what the flag placement event should be). Sigh...

[Joe for Clark]

30. I understand.

I was actually born in west Pennsylvania. Veterans day - it is a big thing back there.

Now I am 48 years old. I do not remember a veterans day in my childhood that didn't start with the visit to the cemetary. With prayers for the kids that fell for us - not one.

Kids are kids - aren't they?? Unfortunately - we ended up as their parents - (sometimes).

Joe

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. There is also one in san diego

I have mil stickesr and I need to ask my sis again what I need to do

She works at Balboa and they are also treating some of these kids there

[cui bono]

17. Good idea. How does one go about it?

I think there's one in Van Nuys on Vanowen near the 405.

[Joe for Clark]

19. If there really is some procedure I will find out.

I have emails out to that effect.

Really, I just walked into a day room and talked to them. That was some years ago. But I talked to the guys every week for years. No one ever asked me why I was there.

And they are there and they need to talk - and we are here and we need to listen. I have always believed the greatest resource of our country laid dieing wanting to say what they learned - and we just passed them by.

Its on Sepulveda - what you are talking about. They took some serious cuts. The main VA (for us) is on Veterans Avenue now. Go Wishire West off the 405 - you can't miss it.

When I find out about the "procedure" - assuming there is one - I will post it.

Joe

[Joe for Clark]

22. This kind of opened up a can of worms.

The number at the hospital is 310-478-3711.
Then you ask to talk to volunteer services.

One of the supervisors is Carrie - and she and I will be having a discussion in the morning.

It is amazing how something that should be so simple becomes so so complicated.

They just want to talk.

Anyway, when I am done with her I will post again on the subject.

Joe

[Beaverhausen]

31. I'm in LA too. If you get info post about it please

maybe we could set up regular outings there. There are tons of LA DUers. :hi:

[Joe for Clark]

32. I will and I will post it.

Joe

[SoCalDem]

20. My viet nam vet friend had his physical therapy moved

He used to only have to travel 10 miles or so, and now it's almost 50 miles one way..so fo course he rarely gets to go becase he does not have the stamina (and the family only has one car).

[Joe for Clark]

21. I think they count on that - the VA - I really do.

That people will get so used up that they won't go at all.

My brothers came out ok from that war. Some of my brothers in laws didn't. I know what those bastards are capable of at the VA.

What is happening to the guys is just plain immoral.

And it better stop right now.

Joe

[calimary]

27. No kidding!

n/t

[EFerrari]

34. Attrition is the oldest trick of an indifferent state. n/t

[Greyhound]

35. Want to kick this again.

I don't have the exact figures handy, but vets are a disproportionately large part of the homeless in the states. When you see a homeless person, take a minute and talk to them, give them some bucks if you have it to spare, but it costs nothing to just listen for a minute.
:kick:

[cui bono]

36. I just talked to friend of mine about doing this...

I'm going to call and see what transpires.