Deacon works to ease veterans’ pain

Deacon Gerald Ladouceur, a retired U.S. Navy commander who served three tours in the Middle East, ministers to veterans at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center and The Community Hospice. His work was the subject of an article in the most recent issue of The Evangelist.

"Nine out of 10 people don't even know we're at war," laments Deacon Gerald Ladouceur. "These guys come back broken and [civilians are] like, 'Don't remind me there's a war going on.'"

Deacon Ladouceur encounters living reminders every day through his ministry to veterans at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center and The Community Hospice. He said civilians should take note of veterans' struggles - whether those veterans are young men returning home to a sour job market and a slow benefits system or senior citizens still grappling with the effects of war.

"When I meet with a vet [at the VA], I don't know what that need is going to be," the deacon said. His responsibilities range from counseling and pastoral care to patient advocacy; sometimes he even finds veterans a place to live when they're discharged from the hospital.

"I consider the work sacred. I see it as a very big responsibility that, for whatever reasons, this [person] is in front of me and needs my help," he added.

You can read more here.

There is widening gap between the American people and their armed forces, and this is not a good thing, according to Karl W. Eikenberry, a retired Army lieutenant general, and David M. Kennedy is an emeritus professor of history at Stanford. Writing in The New York Times, they note:

Less than 0.5 percent of the population serves in the armed forces, compared with more than 12 percent during World War II. Even fewer of the privileged and powerful shoulder arms. In 1975, 70 percent of members of Congress had some military service; today, just 20 percent do, and only a handful of their children are in uniform.

This is just one of the developments that, according to the authors, "present a disturbingly novel spectacle: a maximally powerful force operating with a minimum of citizen engagement and comprehension." You can read more here.