The battle over the whole "kneel during the national anthem" controversy continues today. The major argument I see is that this is a disrespect to active military and veterans. Let's talk about the REAL disrespect, shall we?
In recent years, it seems that most of the wars that our military fight in are basically cleaning up the mistakes of our own government. For example, the US armed the Taliban against the invading Soviet Union, and look what mess that turned out to be. In return, these people are treated with:
1. Unless you are an officer, salaries that are considered barely above the poverty level! Who controls these salaries? Or government officials! And let us not forget, if the powers that be are having a bit of a "lover's quarrel" on the on the Congressional floor causing an effective shut down of the government, these very same people must show up to "work" every day knowing their pay will be delayed, but not knowing how long. All the while, their families need to eat, and they still have bills to be paid, but who cares until the special interest of a few committee members are met!
2. At any given time, it is estimated that there are about 30,000 homeless veterans on the streets. These people are there because they had difficulty assimilating back into civilian society, but the government did little to help them. We treat criminals better than we do our veterans! An ex-convict coming out of prison can get housing in a halfway house and services to help them find a job so that they can become a productive member of society. Why aren't we doing the same for these vets?
3. Inadequate mental health services. It is estimated that about 20% of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, but only about 50% of those receive any kind of treatment. We are talking 1 million plus veterans who are not receiving care for their PTSD with the aid of our government. Many of the reasons sited are things such as long wait times to receive treatment, lack of understanding of services offered. concerns about the services offered being adequate, not living close enough to facilities that offer services (which would further be helped by #1, especially if the only option these people have when they come home is to live with family members who do not live close to required facilities), etc.
4. Difficulty getting needed services from the VA. I've heard too many stories about the VA denying needed procedures for veterans...procedures they need to help them live better quality lives in less pain. Instead, these veterans are often just prescribed more pain pills, and told there is nothing that can be done.
5. Poor housing options state-side. Seriously, I've been on a few military bases, and military housing is terrible in so many places. Think...the projects! Sure, service member can rent or buy a home off of base with a housing stipend, but even with the stipend, most respectable housing is out of their budget. For this reason, many are relegated to housing that is no better than section 8 housing for people living in poverty. This is how we treat the families while their loved ones are sent to the front lines!
Oh, and let us not forget the big old slap in the face transgender soldiers recently received, when our own POTUS basically said, "Thanks for your service, but no thanks!" Let us also not forget some comments disrespectfully said by said POTUS toward military veterans such as John McCain, when he attacked McCain's status a war hero..."I like people who weren't captured!"
Wait, kneeling is disrespecting the flag? Well, 4 U.S. Code § 8 addresses this: 4 US Code Sec 8. Pay particular attention to part (c)...which was violated on many a football field this past Sunay...as well as parts (d), (i) and (j), all of which I see regularly violated by "patriotic" Americans!