By: Gage Miskimen [Feature Editor] @gagemisky

Today is Veteran’s Day. A day in which America celebrates with parades, festivals, and ceremonies and salutes their veterans for the services that they provide. Veterans have defended our freedom at some point in their military career, and for that all should be thankful. But how should Americans celebrate this day? Sure, the parades and the ceremonies are nice and show signs of respect and gratitude, but there is more our country can do for our veterans.

There are currently 20 million veterans in the United States. These veterans all have had to go through Veteran Affair programs which can be tedious and frustrating and may not give them all the benefits they were promised before. Men and women in service risk their lives and give up time with their families to defend our country and a government that they may not even support. That is the epitome of sacrifice.

Our country needs to improve veteran programs and make sure that our soldiers can get anything that they need for themselves and their families. Military families can face a lot of hardship. They live each day not knowing what’s going to happen to their loved one in such a dangerous situation. It’s also difficult for a soldier to come back from duty and adjust to a normal civilian life. Surprisingly, it’s hard for veterans to find jobs. 10.1% of post 9/11 veterans were unemployed in September. That is too high of a number. This doesn’t show support towards our servicemen.

Along with our country as a whole helping and supporting our veterans, as an individual, everybody should wake up and stop and think about our soldiers. Take a moment out of the day to really be grateful for what they are sacrificing. People need to be thankful for the bed they woke up in, and the breakfast they eat, and the family they get to see everyday. Some other countries don’t even get any of that. So just take a moment to be grateful and also talk to local governments and see what can be done to help and make veteran programs better in America. One voice leads to many more voices joining together and creating a difference. That’s all it takes: one voice.