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Feedback ForumAre we taking good enough care of our war veterans?Submissions for this question are no longer being accepted. Previously submitted comments appear below. Comments may have been edited for content or space. Poster: Charlotte Becker Comment: In defense of the VA Medical Centers...Walter Reed is under the direction of the Dept. of Defense, not the VA. They have separate budgets. That said, the VA is way underfunded, and the Bush Administration doesn't seem to see anything wrong with that. Each year the VA must beg to have its budget just maintained, let alone increased. Write to your Congressperson and tell them to support the troops by investing in their health - and then tell them to bring the troops HOME! Poster: katherine Langford Comment: This shows insensitive disrespect for those willing to defend our country with their lives. We should be servant leaders through example. We are preaching democracy in Iraq and in the world, yet we don't practice what we preach. The care of these brave men and women should be extended to the protection on the battlefield,through the care, physically, mentally and spirtually, in battle and after battle. I am not surprised with this discovery though, the men who now suffer from Gulf War Syndrome from the first Iraqi conflicts are not even recognized as having this very real affliction and many suffer with misdiagnosis or maltreatment today. This is heinous. Poster: Laura Martini Comment: No war economy here. No sacrifice for Americans except for the military and their families. Ration to counter our oil dependence. Let's wake up to the fact we are at war, don't kid yourself, folks--this is going to be going on a long while, whether you like it or not. The toll of this conflict--- we will be in debt for generations. Our vetarans are needing more medical care since they are surviving on the field with the most traumatic injuries, medically; and the psychological and neurological injuries can't even begin to be measured. Our troops went willingly, the cream of the crop Americans. They should receive the finest medical carre imaginable until the day they die, and we should be willing to pay for it, and get it to where it is needed. I am a Gold star Mother. Poster: James Bullard Comment: As a Vietnam Era vet I had the impression based on TV reports of battlefield care in Iraq that care for veterans was better now than then but from what I've seen & heard lately that is only true of the initial care they get on the battlefield. Once back in the US apparently little has changed since Vietnam. The attitude of many in the military health care system toward the sick & injured is that they are wimping out or outright goldbricks and the VA is so sorely underfunded/understaffed that they are overwhelmed. A few of years ago I asked the VA for assistance with a hearing problem that is documented (inadequately as it turns out) to have begun in the Army. In addition to being denied help I was sent a form letter that basically said that VA couldn't help all vets because they didn't have the funds so they prioritize and help the worst off first. If you aren't really bad off and you have any other resources you don't get help from the VA. Poster: Elizabeth Roebling Comment: And we have not even begun to see the wounds of our veterans as the US forces used depleted uranium bullets at close range in street fighting. The wounds from this weapon will even be passed on to their children. Poster: Elinore Comment: These men & women are victims of a stupid man and a stupid war. Just because he is not capable of independent thought or ideas, he is dragging the country under with him.He must be stopped. Then, we can afford to help the servicemen & women. Poster: Maggie Hand Comment: No. my husband is a viet nam vet. He was a corpman. We don't want to quit in Iraq. Big mistake if we did. What needs to be done is the politicians keep their noses out of the fight and let the military run the show. This is how wars are won. Presidents, especially those that have no experience in war, should ask for advice, not give it, in time of war, even when you proclaim war. So, Bush, shut up, sit back, and let your military do what they do best, win Poster: While Comment: While the story talks about veterans, I was wondering if this includes all veterans: regular army, navy, marine the national guard and the reserves. Are they all treated the same poor way, or is their a heirarchy with the national guard and the reserve at the bottom of the list. Poster: Ron Weinberg Comment: The deplorable conditions at the Walter Reed hospital are not news. The us government has habitually called on citizens to fight its wars, which are often for the benefit of large corporations, and then discarded those citizens when they are wounded. The trends toward privatizing and outsourcing just mean that some criminal executive is looking for ways to milk more profit out of his lucrative government contract. As for the comments about Americans sacrificing for the war, it is not our war - it is bush's war and exxon-mobil's war. How many members of congress have sent their children to Iraq? Where are bush and cheney's children? How about the oil company executives who will profit from the theft of Iraq's natural resources, have they sent their children? If Americans truly want to support their soldiers, they need to stop sending them out to oppress sovereign nations in the name of corporate greed. Here's a novel thought - if bush, cheney, and the oil company criminal executives were so hot to get Iraq's oil why didn't they go and fight for it instead of sending poor peoples' children? Poster: David Halloran Comment: There is a huge trade imbalance between Asia (China) and USA there is a huge container imbalance and ocean carrriers are desparate to send containers back to to China (Hong Kong). Seasonal commodities such as cotton are key commodities in which ocean carriers can send containers back to Asia at freight rates such as low $100 LA-Hko. There is multi-weekly ocean container service between Asia and USA. and vertually no direct service to remote east Africa ports/destinations there is also no import consumer demand for garmets and toys and thus no container availability. Ocean carriers must reposition empties and pay feeder costs to major transhipment ports to their weekly liner services to Asia/China. Please factor in the virtual no tranport costs USA-Asia vs Africa-Asia. Mexico is also a major cotton exporter as well and have regular west coast service from Manzannillo port. Poster: Stan Johanson Comment: To ask the question is to answer it: a resounding No! America is not at war; it's at the mall. The brunt of the burden is being borne entirely by military service personnel. Even worse, private military contractors reap millions while veterans risk life and limb, only to be treated with neglect when they return home. The state of medical and other care for veterans is a national disgrace, and the questions go all the way up the ladder to the civilian leadership as to why this has been allowed to occur. Poster: James Hall Comment: There was a Base Closing Committe in 2002 and Walter Reed hospital was on the list to be closed. On March 2003 came the invasion of Iraq; the planners assumed it would be a banana republic cakewalk. Unfortunately the war in Iraq has produced more casualties than what was anticipated. Poster: Shirley Bowman Comment: We are NOT taking care of our vets!! (How many years before our leaders denied Agent Orange!! It's bad enough that the Bush Administration started to downsize VA hospitals in 2003, but now hospitals are being privatized. The wounded must travel as much as five hours to get to a medical facility for care. I am so ashamed of this administration. The hearings I've watched on C-SPAN have exposed how the men in charge of running Walter Reed are clueless, and don't suspect a thing! And now the fact that Walter Reed will be torn down to merge with Bethesda, Maryland is just sick!! And THEN I learn that Halliburten has been contracted for the effort. (How much is enough for Cheney?)...Halliburtin, the top of a Pyramid!! That used to be against the law!! (Don't get me started on 'war profiteering!') I keep wondering what this administration can destroy next! All I have to do it listen to C-SPAN. Today, the new budget is coming forth! ANOTHER disaster, all with the intent for further support war!! Go figure? Poster: Joan Sage Comment: The media has not done its job by not telling the American people about Bush Administration's privatization of the V.A. Hospitals under a former Haliburton executive. Also, re subsidies, how about eliminating big farmers (agricultural) subsidies that kill off small family farmers here in the United States. Poster: Pete Daniels Comment: America has a poor record regarding veterans. Only the vets of WWII received anything like good care. Before that and since then Washington has placed veterans far down the priority list. Bush has not and will not offer compassionate care for vets, neither will our Congress. A few states make feeble attempts but there is no leadership nationally to do the least right thing for these damaged men and women. Poster: George W. Crawford Comment: The Army and the George W. Bush administration have been practising criminal neglect of our service men, even as they cry, SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. Poster: Gini Goldie Comment: No, of course not. But this is nothing new - perhaps just worse. Why can't we ever learn that each military person deserves all we can do for them when they return from wars. No one goes unscathed - emotional trauma, physical trauma all our veterans deserve all the support and aid we can give them. This last fiasco is the culmination of brazenly discarding what we we don't need anymore! Poster: Sylvia Comment: Of course not. I worked for the VA in the 70s and 80s. Even back then we were doing a lousy job of it. Now, heaven forbid, it has become even worse. Poster: Ann Kleiman Comment: No we are not and frankly. The mess in the V.A. has been an on going problem as long as i have had vet friends...i'm 65! It has not been fixed yet it just keeps going to committee... Poster: Beth Celley Comment: So for years V.A. benefits have been cut, the U.S. enters a war with many soldiers getting wounded at an alarming rate, and now we are shocked, just SHOCKED to learn that V.A. hospitals are in disrepair,and short staffed. Oh ...get real. Why wasn't the media on this one before the war started?? When there are budget cuts quality is the first victim. Unfortunatly it is the sickest or weakest that usually feel the pain the most. Do you think the BUSHES sleep in a mold filled or paint chipped room? |
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