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| Disabled veterans object to recent Truitt column headline |
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I am writing because I was somewhat put off by the article Beating swords into plowshares for Afghanistan, (Farm World, Jan. 27, page 4) written by Gary Truitt.
The article was written well, the story was fine, but the title gives a false impression of an organization of the same name.
Swords to Plowshares, www.swords-to-plowshares.org, is the only veterans service agency in the United States that provides a full continuum of care to low-income and homeless U.S. veterans.
This program helps bring veterans into the farming community and helps make lives better here at home.
My wife and I are disabled veterans; we both had to end our careers in our 40s from being nurses to small-scale farming due to our disabilities. The article shows the USDA putting money into foreign countries to help them gain agricultural experiences, when we are not able to get assistance because we do not qualify for any of their programs due to income, farm size or other rules.
While I applaud the USDA for helping the farmers in Afghanistan, I also feel that they should be doing more here at home, especially when we who have come home from war are struggling to be more self sufficient on our farms.
Michael Johnson
Sheldon, Ill. |
| 2/4/2010 |
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