By Randy L. Pleva Sr.
For the Salisbury Post
Soon our nation will welcome home a surge of brave men and women from Iraq and Afghanistan. The good news is that the number of troops with paralyzing injuries will be in the hundreds rather than the thousands, as from previous wars such as Vietnam. While the numbers of new veterans with spinal cord injuries will seem relatively small, thank God, the challenges they face will be enormous.
The challenge for our country is to make sure these paralyzed veterans get all the help they need to rebuild their lives. To help them help themselves. These brave folks will need America’s help more than ever.
As Paralyzed Veterans of America marks it founding 63 years ago, my thoughts are with this latest generation, coming home to face these life-altering challenges, and with all of America’s paralyzed veterans who are living with their sacrifices for our freedoms. For the folks coming home right now and their families, please know that America is proud of you and we are here to help you and we always will be. Please also draw strength from the continuing leadership, service and empowerment of those who have gone before you.
Paralyzed Veterans of America was established by a band of spinal cord injured service members who returned home from World War II to a grateful nation, but also to a world with few solutions to the challenges they faced. These veterans from the “Greatest Generation” made a decision not just to live, but to live with dignity as contributors to society. They created an organization dedicated to veterans’ service, medical research and civil rights for people with disabilities. Today, Paralyzed Veterans and its 34 chapters continue to work to create an America where all veterans, and people with disabilities, and their families have everything they need to thrive.
What can America do to honor our paralyzed veterans?
If you are grateful to our paralyzed veterans and their families, please take a minute to thank them for their service. It means more than you might imagine.
If you’re a leader, from our new president and Congress to our mayors and county commissioners, use your leadership to ensure that paralyzed veterans get everything they have earned and need, from quality VA health care to opportunities to lead full and productive lives.
If you provide a service, make it more wheelchair accessible.
If you can help empower a paralyzed veteran, for example, if you’re a CEO, think about supporting initiatives, such as Paralyzed Veterans’ emerging network of vocational rehabilitation offices that help disabled veterans get good jobs.
As we welcome home from war our latest great generation of paralyzed veterans, and honor all those who have come home from conflicts abroad over the years, let us welcome them home to an America that is always striving to provide even more leadership, service and empowerment for those who have served and sacrificed so much for our freedoms.
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Randy Pleva Sr. (U.S. Marine Corps, retired) is the national president of Paralyzed Veterans of America.