When you try to find funding for a VVA function, it doesn’t seem like it’s any trouble at all. People come out of the woodwork with their money to help out because we went over and fought a war.

Ermey contrasts the often-difficult work of sustaining veterans’ organizations with the surprising ease of raising money for a specific event (“function”) tied to Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). The remark underscores a recurring dynamic in U.S. civic life: many people feel a strong, sometimes belated, obligation to materially support veterans once their service is framed as sacrifice on behalf of the nation. Implicitly, it also hints at the gap between symbolic gratitude and deeper engagement with veterans’ long-term needs—donors “come out of the woodwork” for a discrete cause, suggesting episodic generosity rather than sustained responsibility.