I was startled to turn on the news Monday to find the top local story was the protest at the Des Moines Veterans Hospital. Our nation’s veterans were protesting a lack of funding needed to keep the hospital open. One of Iowa’s four VA hospitals will be closed. According to KCCI, the veterans say Congress needs to come up with another three billion dollars to keep veterans’ hospitals across the country open.

Three billion dollars may seem like a lot to the average citizen, but it is a drop in the bucket for the federal government whose annual budget is in the trillions. Three billion dollars could buy a pair of nuclear submarines or a handful of stealth bombers, or it could be used to keep veterans’ hospitals open across the country without cutbacks.

Am I the only person who would rather spend the money on the hospitals? This is no ill-conceived social program to cut down on gang violence or enforce some legislators’ social values. This is about taking care of retired servicemen who did their duty.

Society has a moral obligation to take care of its retired soldiers. These people risked their lives 365 days a year so we could go about our daily lives in blissful happiness, unmindful of the sad fact that this world is a dangerous place.

They fought for us all and didn’t discriminate as to who was worth saving. Our veterans served so the rest of us didn’t have to, and in my book that takes a lot of courage. I doubt most of us have that courage.

The fact that they do serve is surprising when you consider how much they are paid. Current salary ranges in the armed forces are low by civilian standards, and that is part of the reason why our military branches are woefully understaffed. Even if you count the fringe benefits like free room and board, and full health and dental plans, I think the military is a hard sale. Honestly, how many of you would be willing to give your life for roughly thirty thousand dollars a year?

When you consider that, things come into perspective.

And remember what I said about fighting for every American, not just the ones you like.

You’ll be fighting for every crooked politician and sleazy lawyer. Even the inmates in prison will be receiving the benefits of your protection. Being a soldier seems more like a thankless job with few tangible rewards. No longer is it the quick and easy way to pay off your college loans.

When I look at the people I know and decide who I might be willing to risk my life for, there are few names on the list. And that’s just to risk my life. If you told me death was certain, the list gets a whole lot smaller. But our soldiers don’t pick and choose, and for that they should be honored.

When their term of service is up, most soldiers return to civilian life and assume normal jobs. Very few people realize the sacrifices others were willing to make. Did you know that the guy in your history class served in Desert Storm, or that your mechanic lost part of his unit in Somalia?

I doubt it, because those people are not inclined to brag about it. So they go on with their lives, forgotten by most of society except on this one day of the year when people hang Old Glory from their houses and go to the special Memorial Day sale at the mall. The president gives a speech at Arlington and visits the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and that’s about it.

And this makes the situation in Des Moines and all across the country where veterans and other people protested at over one hundred different hospitals all the more galling. These were people willing to give their lives for all of us, and America is turning its back on them on a day set aside solely to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Consider all the points I raised and realize that it isn’t the money or the perks that get people to join the military.

More than anything it is courage and patriotism, which you see when soldiers plant flags near every headstone in Arlington National Cemetery.

One soldier interviewed on CNN plainly said that those soldiers gave their lives and should not be forgotten by this country.

Three billion dollars is a tiny amount for what those soldiers did for us, and Congress should be able to come up with it. After all, no pork-barrel project is worth more than the people who risked their lives for this nation.

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Aaron Woell is a senior in political science from Bolingbrook, Ill.