The Veteran Network

The Veteran Network was created to focus on the individual Veteran and issues that affect each and every one of us.  There are numerous benefit sites and information around supporting Veterans.  This site attempts to focus on these topics from the view of the Veterans themselves.

It was inspired by one man.  Joseph Jones who served valiantly in the United States Marine Corp in Vietnam.  For years he struggled with the memories that were embedded in his mind forever.  He struggled to keep these nightmares to himself.  That is, until one day he was plugged into the Regional Veteran’s services offered out of Newark, New Jersey.

Aside from the various meetings with Psychiatrists and Medical Doctors at the Regional Medical Center he also discovered a support group that focused on Veterans and their struggles with the past.  He found camaraderie and friendship in a group known as LZ Hope.  In a sense, he found many like himself.  Those who had felt that no one understood, no one could fully comprehend the hell that is war.

He also found that after 30 plus years he was eligible for much more than friendship.  He also found a Service Organization that would represent him in his claim to that which the Government had set aside, but done poorly in communicating out to its Veterans.  He found a wealth of information and assistance.  More importantly, he found himself.

I know this, for this is my father.

Having served myself for 8 years during the Cold War era, I am also discovering a wealth of information that I feel every Veteran should be aware of.  With the arrival of the Gulf War(s) and Afghanistan the stories are flowing giving an indication that we are on the cusp of repeating the history of Vietnam’s treatment of Veterans all over again.  It is now that change must occur.  This site is just one voice to derail history from repeating.  I encourage you to join me.

It is hoped that feedback and comments from viewers of the site is incorporated into the message:  That Veterans are not throw-aways.  We need to look out for one another and assist in any means possible in future generations of U.S. Military who find themselves marching through life with discovering that which the rest of us have discovered.  No one has to walk that path alone.