We owe veterans respect and fulfilled promises -Green Bay (WI) Press-Gazette

Editorial:

Veterans Day 2007 rolls around as one seasoned group of local veterans prepares to head back to Iraq. Members of the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion spent much of 2003 and early 2004 in the Middle East, and they are about to be redeployed.

The 432nd helped establish order in Kosovo in the late 1990s, and it's been part of the rebuilding effort in Iraq. Civil affairs units generally work with both government and nongovernmental agencies to help restore infrastructure and institutions in war and disaster zones.

It is dangerous work. One of the area soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq was Pfc. Nichole Frye, a member of the 432nd who was killed while working with the 415th Civil Affairs Battalion of Kalamazoo, Mich. But it is necessary work — rebuilding war zones.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the members of the 432nd and their families this Veterans Day.

We also note the report last week that veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, even though they comprise only 11 percent of the general adult population.

There has been a lot of discussion about the homeless in Green Bay this fall. People have emphasized that some of the men and women living on our streets are alcoholics or mentally ill. Lost in that discussion is the fact that some of them also served their country bravely and with honor.

U.S. veterans are the elderly who served in World War II and Korea. They are middle-aged men and women who served in Vietnam. They are the young who have protected our interests in the Persian Gulf. They are people of all ages who helped keep the peace between wars.

Our nation made certain promises to all of them.

Every year around this time, Congress debates reauthorization of the Veterans Affairs budget. And every year it seems some promise to veterans or another falls by the wayside or has to be defended. Veterans need lobbyists to protect the health care, insurance and retirement benefits they were told they would receive when they enlisted or, in a less-enlightened era, when they were drafted.

A promise is a promise. When budgets are in need of cutting — and they usually are — most Americans favor cutting just about anywhere but in the funds that go to keeping our promises to service people. They risked their lives and often gave them on our behalf, and we owe them at least that much.

And beyond that, we owe them our highest respect.