Larry,

I agree with you 100%. I do not believe it will ever, ever, happen and it's sad to say. Your whole statement is right on. I just believe there's a better way. It just will never happen.

Pack

Packy for Prez!

How many times have we talked about a march on Washington? How many times have we talked about a media blitz? There seemed to be plenty of money collected by vets on both sides for their candidate in this last election.Why is itwe are so stingy and lazy when it comes to insisting on accountability from the top of the totem pole to the bottom regard the VA system?

I've heard many veterans including my bro state that the system for the most part was designed to discourage our veterans that most need help. We need more like Packy that have worked inside the system and can verify what most of us felt in our gut all along. The service organizationsare useful but we talk to them and they talk to congress. Is it time to throw down a challenge to all veterans inAmerica? Is it timeto put names on the yellow ribbons to holdall veterans accountable for the well being of the men and women and their families those ribbons represent? The VA was created to care for "him who has borne the battle and his widow and his orphan." No one is more responsible to see to it that it fulfils it's mission than those of usthat fit that description. No matter who we as veterans and dependents cast our vote for we all know what time it is when "Tommy" comes home and theguns fall silent. Twice in my life time circumstances had me in hospitals where our wounded were coming home from war. The first was Walter Reed Army Hospital in D.C. 67-68 and the second was the VA hospital in Milwaukee WI 2004. The incredible spirit of the troops I encountered under both circumstances not only left me feeling humbled but responsible.

I don't really want to see the VA dismantled although I have many real time examples of doctors, nurses, and staff not being held accountable in VA hospitals dating back to 1967 and going forward to 2004. I'mvery much aware ofthepositive work done through VA research such asspinal cord injury. My brother's experience at the VA in Milwaukeeconcerning his fight to stay with his brothers and sisters while he was dying also gives me pause when talking of dismantling the VA. I thinktwice about sending our veterans into private nursing homes one by one where it would be the luck of the draw if they saw another veteran for the rest of their days on this earth. But that is a personalobservation and others may not feel the same.

Would we be asking for the impossible to ask that all VA personnel from the topdown be held accountable for their actions? Is it to much to ask that the care and well being of all veterans in their care be top priority?It's dishearteningto know that I'm asking the same questionsthatcame to mind some thirty seven years agoas a youngwomanconfronting a system that was beyond negligent whilemy dying husband was in it's care in the Augusta, GAVA.

Packy for Prez...

Arrow>>>>>

... and Arrow for Veep Prez!!!

Tommy
 

<PRE>I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

-- Rudyard Kipling</PRE><PRE></PRE>

Sis...your post reminds me of my favorite poem that my father sent to me when I was in the Desert, was written over three hundred years ago, and i think it is still just as true........

God and Soldiers we Adore'
In times of Danger and not Before,
When Dangers Passed and all Things Righted,
God is Forgotten and the Soldier Slighted.

Peace brothers!

Trav

Methinks the tax system is gonna HAVE TO change, somehow, sooner than later... and it will probably be much later than necessary, and probably only in response to something unforeseeable that gets out of whack.

As for the Tommy poem... it was that precise sentiment which was being strongly felt by our own Revolutionary War vets, which (in various ways) resulted in the drafting of a Constitution in Philadelphia... so as to enable the payment of the troops for services rendered.

Trav...
 

Somewhere in the "Pooh's Book of Famous Sayings," with one famous saying fo reach day, on my birthday quotes the lines, "A soldier's life is terrible hard!"

Yes
 

Re: Yes
 

No more writing.

Time has come for a teach-in and sit-in.

Sir Blue