I see that you question the ethics of MTV profiting off the plight of these veterans. I agree with you that this isn’t the point, but see it differently. If MTV turns a profit from the program that is great. Regardless of the efficacy of the help, in the end MTV did support three veterans. If they turn a profit on this show, then that gives them a strong incentive to replicate, thereby creating a sustainable system of support.

I like your system of local veteran coordinators, it seems like a good way of extending the online tools into the virtual world and establishing a network of assistance for veterans.

I don’t disagree with your assessment that many Vietnam Veterans had bad feelings about the war, but I couldn’t speculate about their participation. Some may be willing, some not, but I feel it would be a worthwhile effort to try. I still remember a high school government class that gave the students the opportunity to meet Vietnam Veterans one-on-one. The personal interaction and stories were easily the most powerful experiences of my educational career. I believe that bringing personal stories of veterans, regardless of the war, to as wide an audience as possible is an effective way to generate awareness and support.

The Music and Arts lab is cool, but how are you going to run a million veterans through there? It would be much better to have a veterean coordinator in a smattering of cities around the country that are pretty well connected in their respective city, and aren’t afraid to make phone calls, who work to provide opportunity for veterans. As opposed to “giving a mike and a week of studio time” it seems like it would be better if he had been given a job at a radio station, and exposed to the local community involved in that sort of thing, so he could start to make headway.

The online support tools is a good idea.

I think most veterans would be a little uncomfortable with having the video being made, and you’ll find that Vietnam veterans may be reluctant to help because many of them had bad feelings about the war, and their reception back to the states was a different experience.

It might be helpful if you have the coordinator find vets in their respective city that are in various classifications of job, so that the returning vet has a network he can kind of “plug in” to.

But heck, there’s my three cents.