Cooley Law School Professor Ret. Brigadier General Michael C.H. McDaniel spoke to a group of citizens about the importance of the U.S. military during a Veterans Day event hosted by the Lansing Board of Water and Light on Wednesday, Nov. 8.
“When you think about Homeland Security or Law Enforcement or Board of Water and Light workers, we are working best when the public does not think about us and they forget that we are even there, applying essential services,” said McDaniel, who served as Michigan’s first homeland security adviser. “That is true for the U.S. military worldwide. Hundreds of thousands of service members are in over 80 countries around the world, to assure peace, and if not peace, at least stability.”
The event focused on the importance of the nation’s military services throughout the years and how veterans are in need of support long after they’ve returned home.
“There are over 2.3 million American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and at least 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or depression,” said McDaniel, who detailed national data about veterans suffering from PTSD, substance abuse and suicide. “Fifty percent of those with PTSD do not seek treatment, and out of the half that seek treatment, only half of them get ‘minimally adequate’ treatment. These statistics are sobering and often ignored.”
McDaniel delivered message to the nation’s veterans, echoing the words of first U.S. President George Washington in his speech to the Connecticut troops before their enlistment ran out during the Siege of Boston in 1775:
“Your exertions in the cause of freedom, guided by wisdom and animated by zeal and courage, have gained you the love and confidence of your grateful countrymen; and they look to you, who are experienced veterans, and trust that you will still be the guardians of America. More human glory and happiness may depend upon your exertions than ever yet depended upon any sons of men. He that is a soldier in defense of such a cause, needs not title; his post is a post of honor, and although not an emperor, yet he shall wear a crown—of glory—and blessed will be his memory.
McDaniel concluded, “Veterans, blessed will be your memory. Thank you. God Bless the United States of America.
Cooley Law School Professor Ret. Brigadier General Michael McDaniel spoke to a group of citizens about the importance of the U.S. military during a Veterans Day event hosted by the Lansing Board of Water and Light.