Fireworks after holiday: Veterans ask for respect

In preparation for the Fourth of July, some veterans in Columbia posted signs in their front yards that read: “Military veteran lives here. Please be courteous with fireworks.”

Veterans at Veterans of Foreign War Post 280 said it doesn’t bother them when people set off fireworks on the Fourth of July because they are prepared for them.

It’s the fireworks people set off days before or days after that can trigger their post-traumatic stress disorder.

Don Briggs, postquarter master at VFW Post 280, said the sound of fireworks can affect veterans differently. He said these days fireworks don’t bother him, but that wasn’t always the case.

“It took a little while for me to get used to people banging and blowing things up around me that weren’t trying to kill me,” Briggs said.

Briggs said the sound of fireworks usually affect veterans more if they recently came home from deployment.

Kim Wischmeyer, club manager at VFW Post 280, said fireworks still affect him to this day, but he wouldn’t tell people to stop using them. He said he just wants people to understand why fireworks affect them and to be more respectful.

“If people could just respect the veterans and quit messing with the fireworks. Except for the Fourth of July. You know, we get it. We understand. We were there too before we went over [to Vietnam]. I mean we were kids,” Wischmeyer said.

If you wanted to purchase a sign, you can visit the website here: http://www.militarywithptsd.org/