“It’s something we, as private citizens, need to do.”

This is what Vietnam veteran Chuck Howe explains as his reasoning for creating a War on Terror memorial, the first of its kind.

On an 18-acre plot in northern New Mexico, Howe plans to build a memorial that can be a special place for veterans from all over the country, along with a health and wellness center and hotel.

The health and wellness center will provide services for both veterans with PTSD, and vets who may have experienced sexual trauma during their service.

This property is already across from a Vietnam veteran memorial, and a veterans cemetery will soon  be added. Howe hopes that it will be a unique location catered specifically to vets, their families, and their needs (via KOB 4):

“Veterans will be coming here for burials. They’ll be coming to visit gravesites and they’ll be coming to relax,” Howe said. “So we’ll be the only spot in the United States that has all these things combined in one location.”

Howe said he hasn’t received any pushback on his plans to develop the hillside. He said the tree marking the spot where Tech Sgt. Scott Bobbitt died in a plane crash in 2005 won’t going anywhere.

Additionally, the plans are to make it a ‘living memorial’ so that it can be modified to include future conflicts. The memorial will have a flat, stone globe that will mark every conflict since Vietnam.

Construction is expected to begin in the coming year, and so far, it is being privately funded.