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Tuesday, March 6, 2007
VA Abuses
...by
John Morgan
The Washington Post had
another story today about how the VA is abusing our wounded veterans
at facilities all across the country, not just Walter Reed. This is
true and I've been writing about these Veterans issues all along. It's
something that outrages me. We send our own to go fight, die and get
wounded in foreign lands and then we cannot take care of them when
they return battered and bruised? It's shocking but nothing new. Talk
to any local veteran or veterans group anywhere in the country and
you'll get an earful about your area facilities and Bush cutting
Veterans benefits.
I first became aware of
the VA cuts back in 2004 while working for Lois Herr. Lois and I
attended some events with Vets and they bent her ear talking about
Bush's budget cuts and how they were hurting the VA. I began looking
into the issue and, I hate to say, it's only gotten worse with time.
Bush has refused to fund the medical services required by his war.
He's shortchanging soldiers who are severely wounded, both physically
and mentally. Many of these vets are coming home with traumatic brain
injuries. That's something I happen to know quite a bit about and I
know these poor souls are in no condition to cope with their lack of
treatment and the conditions around them.
Walter Reed is symptomatic
of the problems across the entire Army and VA medical establishment.
Bush hasn't only broken the Army with this war he's also broken the
Veterans Administration. He refuses to fund it to the extent required
by the number and extent of casualties. This is a disgrace and nothing
would be being done right now had the Post not exposed the shabby
treatment of our heroes. Then the Pentagon refers to it as "yellow
journalism." It's only yellow because that's the color of the urine
some of these soldiers are forced to lie in because the Army won't
care for them, bathe them, change their sheets or clean their
facilities.
But it does seem we have
billions available for new nuclear weapons.
comment on this news item...
reprinted with permission
from the Pennsylvania
Progressive
Comments:
Walter Reed is NOT a Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital.
by Jason Leisey
It should be noted that
Walter Reed Army Medical Center is NOT a Department of Veterans
Affairs hospital. WRAMC is a Department of Defense facility. There is
a difference, a BIG difference. I know that the VA has its own issues,
but I hate that they are receiving bad media coverage over a DoD
problem. Military personnel that are at WRAMC are still Active Duty,
and not considered veterans at this point, so they don't fall under VA
care. I receive my care at Lebanon VAMC [Veterans Administration
Medical Center] and I am glad that I do. We are fortunate to have one
of the best VA hospitals in the country in our backyard. It is clean,
modern, and the staff goes out of their way to help veterans.
The VA is still catching
up to meet the needs of the GWOT [Global War on Terror], but doesn't
deserve all of the blame that John Morgan is giving them. For someone
who has been "writing about these Veterans issues all along," he is
grossly misinformed. By no means am I defending the administration,
they have a long way to go on Traumatic Brain Injury, but be aware
that there are many of us VA employees doing our absolute best to take
care of our returning heroes.
Editors notes: Please
visit the following links for the Lebanon Veterans Affairs Medical
Center
Department of Veterans Affairs information on the Lebanon VA...
Lebanon VA home page...
Lebanon VA Guide to Medical Services... |
