Both Teya (Iraq '07-'08) and I (Afghanistan '05-'06, Iraq '08-'09) are veterans. Total Teys served six years and I fifteen. As you can imagine this makes our household rather aware of veteran's challenges and a bit sensitive to some of the ways the industry likes to use the veteran image, causes, and such for marketing. This Veteran's Day I encountered something for the first time that I though deserved sharing.
A company I have never interacted with, never tried the products of, nor herad anything about until now sent out a press release that in observation of Veteran's Day they won't be offering a discount or special sale, rather are locking their website down and using it to redirect folks to mental health resources.
I don't know of many veterans who haven't had mental health issues at one point or another as it can come from multiple sources. It's not just combat scars that plague veterans, there are also thousands who signed up to be protectors of the Constitution only to encounter disgusting corruption and witness those in the highest command positions be little more than greasy politicians willing to break their oath for a career. Even those who never achieved ranks high enough to see that, and never deployed to a combat zone have their own challenges from being a veteran, but not the "hero" they thought they would be. Family separation, a disconnect from mainstream life.
Here's the statement from Beyond:
"BEYOND Clothing is committed to protecting those who protect us. Our website will be "locked" for 24 hours, beginning at Nov 11th at 11:00am EST, as an effort to raise awareness for mental health. Shopping and browsing will be disabled and our site will point towards mental health resources.
There are people in our lives today fighting battles that we cannot see. Please. Take a moment and reach out to a Veteran to remind them they have loved ones in their corner. We’re all in this together. We’re all fighters of the good fight."
Very noble of them. We have no idea what their goods are like quality wise, but https://beyondclothing.com/ has made one of the most noble gestures towards veterans I've seen in a long time.