Take Care of the Military Personal and Veterans, a small Minority of the Large Majority of this so called ‘Rich Nation’!!
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified,
shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated
and appreciated by their nation.” – George Washington
That Minority signs a Contract to the Majority that they Serve and Defend this Country. But that Majority has never Really Completely Upheld their end of that Contract, it’s better to them having an ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ Mentality, labeling those Veterans seeking Help and Expectation of a Fullfilled Contract as Slackers and Liers for the Condition’s they find themselves in After Serving ‘Honorably’!
Blotted ‘Military Budgets’, much heading for Corruption, Does Not Give For A Strong Defense. Those who Serve Do, ‘Honorably’!!
Going through the Motions and giving Empty Rethoric, by our ‘Hired’ Representatives and that ‘Majority’ has been going on Far Too Long! It’s Way Past Time that the Majority ‘Honor’ those who Serve and their ‘Contracts’ with ‘America’!!
This ‘Country’ of the ‘Majority’, Who Don’t Serve, Owes To That Minority Who Do and Always Has!!
March 11, 2006
Vietnam Vets Face Struggle To Survive
Some are living in woods, cars
By Victor Whitman
Times Herald-Record
vwhitman@th-record.com
Monticello – Vietnam vet John Venticinque once dodged bullets for his country.
Now he’s dodging cockroaches in a flea-bag motel in Monticello, stuck living for months in Room 103 because he can’t find a place to stay in Sullivan County.
“I’m homeless, I’m homeless… Here I am stuck in this rat-infested place,” said Venticinque, a 55-year-old Army soldier who saw combat action and came home traumatized.
Why are these reports still coming forward? Those who never serve, especially in Combat Theaters, have No Idea the Trauma’s all go through and to what degree they may effect some, yet the unknowing seem to be able to come up with empty slogans, hollow knowledge, and charges to justify not spending the needed funds to ‘Honor’ the contracts signed for their benefit nor ‘Honor’ those who signed them!
Lawmakers address problems with VA programs
BY CHRIS ADAMS
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders from both parties have begun pushing the Bush administration to boost staffing for its veterans’ disability compensation program, now mired in a growing backlog of cases and beset by increasing delays.
At the same time, Democratic lawmakers are writing legislation to increase funding and enrollment in a pension program for poor veterans and their widows. In December, Knight Ridder revealed that the program was overlooking the vast majority of people who could participate – an estimated 2 million veterans or widows who collectively aren’t getting as much as $22 billion a year.
Is the above article header reporting more of the same All Veterans have followed for years?
The VA’s disability compensation program sends checks to 2.7 million veterans for injuries suffered during military service. Yet high error rates, lengthy appeals, backlogs and wide regional inconsistencies mean many veterans wait years for decisions. One result, detailed by Knight Ridder: Thousands of older veterans die with their claims still pending.
Almost all Democrats and Republicans, though I haven’t met any true Republicans in years especially those in the Public offices, have a connection to someone who has served this country in the Military. Yet most don’t even show their respect for family members, be they from way in the past to the present, on the Holiday’s set aside to give ‘Honor’ and ‘Respect’. To most it’s a Day Off and that’s it. Schools that may have to have sessions, on those days, ussually from lost snow/weather as makeup days get Complaints from the Parents and Students because it Interfears with that Day Off from shopping or whatever!
In addition, the average time to process claims, which the VA had said would drop to 145 days, or 125 days, or even 100 days, is projected to increase this year and next, to more than 180 days.
Both measures are closely watched indicators of the department’s efficiency. The fact that the VA seems to be losing ground has Republicans and Democrats concerned.
Although Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives are focusing on staffers directly assigned to disability compensation cases, the VA said in a statement that it is “more appropriate” to look at the overall number of staffers, which also includes workers handling pension and burial cases. Looked at that way, the department said it would see a reduction of 48 staffers next year.
Are they offshoring, No their reducing the needed workforce already overburdened but still dedicated!
Democrats and Republicans on the committee say the administration also needs to beef up its appeals division, generally the source of the longest waits for veterans. In 2005, the average response time for a board decision was 622 days – well above the department’s goal of 365 days.
This is nothing New, this is how the system has been since it’s inception! It was just plain Outrageous during the Vietnam Conflict Years and had stayed that way, and now Approaching that same Outrageous with the returning Vets of the Afgan/Iraq Theaters!
Beyond that, there’s also a move afoot to increase funding for the VA’s pension program. Only about 20 percent of veterans and widows who could get the pensions do so, a VA study estimates. The payments are also so low that widows who have just $7,094 in annual income make too much to qualify.
“It’s a disgrace how little widows get,” said Ann G. Knowles, president of a national association of county veterans officials. She testified before Buyer’s committee late last month, citing Knight Ridder’s December story as a reason to boost funding for the pension program.
Democrats on the House veterans committee are recommending the administration increase pension payments to 125 percent of the poverty level, or about $12,250 a year for an individual.
Several lawmakers are also working on legislation to increase payments and to boost outreach efforts to sign more people up for the pensions. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is working on legislation that could be ready early next month, a spokesman said, as are Democrats in the House, such Howard Berman of California.
Are these moves, above, just more of the same emptiness, to be shelved once again, or just plain Never Funded, we’ve seen this same Crap over and over and over again!
If any Party wants a Strong ‘National Defense’ Platform, Start Fighting For Your Veterans And Mean It!!
That is the Only True way to a ‘Strong National Defense’ People hear about, or see, the huge figures voted on and spent for the Defense Budgets, No Questions Asked, untill the Corruption bubbles up and than Very Little Noise from the MSM and People, who Pay Those Huge Budgets!
We don’t need Huge Budgets, we need the monies spent wisely, not wasted or stolen!
The VA Hospital system alone should have been the Best in the World, in Care, in Research, in Training, it could even be Making Money if it had been Financed and Built the right way to begin with. Instead the Dedicated Hospital personal and Volunteers are the ones that keep it at least Functioning, it Certainly isn’t those, the Majority, who Never Served!
One More Time: You Want A Platform Of ‘Strong National Defense’, Start Fighting For Your Veterans AND MEAN IT!!
And ‘Stop’ sending that Minority into Conflicts of Invading others Countries, Especially on Fabricated Intelligence! They Serve to Defend not be an Offensive Destructive Force for the Wants of a Corrupt Civilian/Military Leadership!!
Bring Them Home,NOW!!!!
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“Sow Justice, Reap Peace — Strategies for Moving Beyond War” 2006 VFP Annual Convention August 10-13, Seattle, WA
“Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another.”
