Stand Down Veteran supplying Veterans with support
DOVER, De. – Lawmakers, Delaware organizations and community members gathered in Dover to help support the hundreds of veterans who have fought overseas with the Stand Down Veteran event.
U.S. Senator of Delaware Tom Carper says there were little resources available in Delaware to veterans after he returned to the first state.
“I am the last Vietnam veteran serving in the United States Senate.”
When I came to this state right at the end of the Vietnam war to get a graduate degree at the University of Delaware, we had no veterans hospital, U.S. Senator Carper said. “We had one, but not much of a hospital.”
After working alongside lawmakers, events like Stand Down Veteran and community support have given veterans more available resources to comfortably transition back home after active duty.
“I worked with Joe Biden, Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt Rochester to transform the way we provide benefits to veterans.”
The Stand Down Veteran has hundreds of community members supporting and raising awareness of benefits available for Veterans.
“If veterans do not know about it, it’s like if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, was there a noise?
“We have all these great veteran’s programs in the State of Delaware and we do now, but nobody knows about it. Is it really a benefit?”
“This is what we are here to do,” U.S. Senator Carper said. “To help the veterans on site, but also make sure the word gets out to those who are not here.”
The event also hosts local and state programs to help all veterans with any kind of support they may need. Some provide emotional support to veterans dealing with internal struggles, like Military Chaplin Michael Hills.
“A lot of veterans, especially who have served overseas, have had a lot of struggles with PTSD, with TBI and things of that nature.”
“Spiritual encouragement on my behalf and anything that the veterans need to be able to survive in this world.”
“We are losing 22 veterans a day because of PTSD, and that is a crying shame, but a lot of it is the veterans are trained to ignore and override their feelings and they have to survive in combat.”
Dr. Donald G. Hattier is a Quartermaster Sergeant whose father also served in the military.
Neither he nor his father ever saw combat, but have seen what soldiers returning from active duty have to go through on a daily basis.
“Any time that we can honor the vets, we have been doing this for 15 years, anytime we can honor them or show up, we try to do it.”
Senator Carper also wanted to remind veterans that the deadline for Pact Act benefits is September 30th. Any veterans who served in the afghan war and were exposed to the toxic chemicals of the burn pits still have time to register for Health Care offered by Veterans Affairs.
