Keep Your Veterans in Mind on Holidays

This is a trifle late for New Year’s, but jot it down, especially for the 4th of July. When lighting fireworks, or shooting off guns, keep in mind those among us suffering from PTSD. What is fun for some can be terror and heartbreaking to others.

A quote from Pharr, Texas “The sounds of fireworks, or can resemble gunshots, and that can add to the stress of veterans suffering from PTSD.”

“The simple thing of just the smell of gunpowder can trigger something. It doesn’t have to be the noise”, Marine veteran Alfredo Oritz said.

It’s typical to celebrate holidays with fireworks, where allowed, but what people don’t realize is these colorful lights can bother some of your neighbors who happen to be veterans.

The brain is very good at pairing things, especially threats, according to veteranaffairs.gov. It may place them back in combat zones and the veteran fears his own environment.

Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday is celebrated on the third Monday in January and is a national holiday after 32 years of struggling to achieve this goal. His birthday serves multiple purposes: it honors the legacy of King; focuses on the issues of civil rights; highlights the use of nonviolence to promote change and calls people into public service.

The inauguration of the president of the United States held 73-79 days after the presidential election, marks a new four-year term for the leader of our country.

George Washington’s inauguration was on April 30, 1789. It has since changed to January of each year. A multitude of officials have given the oath: chief justices, associate justices, and a New York state judge. The event has been held in various buildings: The White House, Capitol Rotunda, Old Senate Chamber, and House of Representatives. Now it is held on the west front of the Capitol facing the National Mall with its iconic Washington Monument and distant Lincoln Memorial.

New Year's Eve and Day is in part a celebration where spouses work to gather the families together, be it by social media or face-to-face. They work in conjunction with the commander of the base making sure all the family is included.

This annual Army tradition is designed to signal the beginning of a New Year. Usually held sometime in the first two weeks of January featuring a daytime event on a weekend.

Specific times are set on each invitation thereby allowing everyone a chance to attend. While not mandatory to attend, it is highly encouraged to do so allowing mixing and mingling and letting the spouses bond with other spouses.

This month will share one of the oldest military traditions—a New Year’s Reception! From Wikipedia: for more than 100 years, a military custom called for soldiers to travel to their headquarters to greet their commander at the beginning of the new year. In the post-Civil War era, particularly for the horse cavalry in the American West, this might have been the only time when commanders were able to physically see their soldiers.

George Washington held the first New Year’s Reception, and it was considered a very formal affair. Thomas Jefferson began the tradition of handshaking with everyone. Anyone could wait in line, enter the White House, and shake hands with the president. This was the beginning of the social season in Washington.

Aww, how times have changed in this arena.