Next month, Warren County residents will be able to get their first look at what will be a valuable asset for veterans trying to make the transition from their military service to the civilian world.

The Vicksburg Warren Veterans Transition Center will provide a necessary service for returning veterans as they try to return to a world that may be different since they enlisted in the service.

“This is long past due, we should have had one a long time ago,” said Eva Ford, a retired Veterans Administration nurse practitioner, who is the president of the nine-member board that will administer the center, and the driving force behind developing the center.

Over the years, our nation’s veterans have put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms, and while veterans from World Wars I and II have for the most part been honored and remembered, others, like the Vietnam vets, were initially reviled and hated.

And while many veterans have been successful at adjusting from military to civilian life, others have had problems adjusting from their experience in the military and in combat to a return to the life they led as a civilian.

This is where the veterans transition center comes in. It gives a returning veteran a place to go and gradually make the change from soldier to civilian. It allows him or her the opportunity to take their time to adjust to a different lifestyle, prepare for a job search, and be among people whose sole job is to help them get on with the next stage of their life.

There have always been people in veterans organizations who have complained that our country does not do enough for our veterans, pointing out the problems some veterans have in making the adjustment from military to civilian life.

The veterans transition center is one program that will change that perspective, and Mrs. Ford, her board, Atwood Chevrolet, which donated the building, and all the other people who have had a hand in developing the center deserve to be commended for their efforts.

It is an example at what can happen when someone has an idea, is willing to move it forward and gets the support from others who also see the need and are willing to get on board.

It deserves the community’s support.