Lori Falce: Veterans need support more than sales and free lunch

On Veterans Day, the attention on former service members is obvious.

There are offers for free coffee, free sandwiches, free meals and more. I know someone who preps in advance, making sure his identification is ready and loosens his belt, prepared to dine for free all day — and take home a few doggie bags along the way.

Your local department store will probably have a brightly colored sale flyer. You may find ads for discounted mattresses. A car lot with an inflatable Uncle Sam outside? It’s been done.

There could be parades. There could be ceremonies. There could be programs in school or services in church.

It is nice to have the acknowledgement. But is it the same as support?

Not necessarily.

The veterans that I have known — from family members and friends to committed public servants who still find ways to give back long after retirement — don’t crave attention. They aren’t looking for a free lunch — even if they will accept it when it’s offered.

What they want is to have the promises made to them when they were kids in a recruiter’s office honored. They want the actions they took on battlefields respected. They want their service to be a link in a chain that means something.

That means health care without begging. It means needs answered when needs arise.

It means remembering that mental health is still health. It means addressing the critical, life-threatening problems unmet mental health needs can present.

It means accepting responsibility when issues of the past — like burn pits or water pollution — still impact former service members today.

None of these are issues that a convenience store or a restaurant or a municipality can address. They are bigger than a cup of coffee or parade.

But what we can all do is make it clear that we value our veterans and expect them to be treated as valuable by the branches of service they represented and the nation they served.

More important than a sandwich is real support. Write letters to a congressman. Send an email to a senator. Encourage state leaders to do what they can on their level. Advocate for veterans’ health, for housing for homeless veterans, for promises to be kept.

So buy your mattress. Shop for a car. Attend a parade on Veterans Day. Take your favorite retired service member out to pick up a free hoagie.

Just make sure that you don’t forget to do the real, meaningful, supportive steps along the way. They matter as much as the veterans.