An informal Poll for Veterans in this forum...

[BLUEHAWK]

1. Do not make military the physical enforcer of ever-changing political aims. Use violent force to defend ourselves at home and to destroy tyrants (and only the tyrants) abroad... then bring them home, quickly.

2. Cause the "Veterans Preference" in hiring to actually MEAN something.

3. Put an end to war.

[DMZ-LT]

What Bluehawk said. Thank you zommie.

[MORTARDUDE]

I would like to see a comprehensive list of all politician's promises regarding veterans since at least the "bonus marchers" in the 1930s. The add up those they followed hru with vs. those they ignored or didn't fund...Gimpy : what do you think the percentage would be ?? Why are we even having a discussion like this in the middle of a war ? Disgusting .

Larry

My uncle does not have a service connected disability. He wanted to shift his urology appts. from his private doctor to the VA, as he has had prostate cancer. After waiting a month for an appt. and driving over 150 miles round trip and waiting 3 hours past his appt. time, he spent all of 2 mins. with an intern from the Univ. of TN. ( who are a large part of the staff at the Memphis VA hospital )..then he received a bill for $ 50, where he usually pays $ 15. He is 70 and his wife is 67 and she continues to work because of her private health insurance...Health care in this country is in serious need of fixing and the main culprits are all the out and out fraud allowed to comtinue thru Medicare and private insurance companies, the AMA and the big pharmaceutical companies who continue to increase the cost of everything to make more money for themselves...

Larry

[Dragon Lady]

Larry,

Why are we even having a discussion like this in the middle of a war ? Disgusting .

Some of the greatest social change happens during wartime, both home and abroad.
During WWI the sufferagettes were thrown into jail for protesting the president at a time of war. Although it was a simple and peaceful protest and they did not break any laws, the people rioted because they thought that their tactics were contrary to what the country was going through at the time. What was their protest about? Simply they wanted Truman to keep his word and give women the same rights as men...the right to own property, including intellectual property, and the right to vote being among their list.

Sometimes we have to hold their feet to the fire, so to speak, in order to bring about change.

This does not mean that we dishonor our fighting military. Quite the contrary, it is for them that we wage this battle at home. So they can come home and have something a little bit better, a little bit easier, than we and those who came before us did.

Remember the poem that was posted here? The one about the soldier that wouldnt come in from the rain, when the man asked him if there was anything he could do for the soldier the reply was a universal one. Fight for the soldiers rights at home and never forget. That poem spoke volumes to my soul. And I for one will do whatever I can to see that they are not railroaded.


again just sticking my nose out there.
DL

[Gimpy]

"words" of wisdom speak volumes about your character and feelings my dear Dragon Lady!

PLEASE...........................Keep "sticking" your nose in around here!

[Dragon Lady]

Thank Gimpy.

I assure you I rarely have a problem speaking up.

Have a great day fellas!

DL

[reconeil]

1. Bring The VA back to being the best Medical Provider in history, as was the reality back from the Middle Fortees and in The Fiftees. Ironically, such was a time when the greatest volume of Disabled Veteran Care was ever needed in history.

2. Stop foolishly directing/ordering The U.S. Military to conduct one-sided politically-correct or one-sidededly restrictive and always favorable to the enemy type warfares. "America's Finest" deserve better, and at least a better than fighting chance at survival against non-conventional and fanatical murderers.

3. "Political Science EXPERTS(?)"(re. leaders, rulers, journalists, pundits or whatever) should stop politicizing most everything, even right and wrong or black and White. The American People deserve better. Hell,...considering what: "We The (Schnooks)" generously and grandeosly PAY & PAY & PAY & PAY our lordly rulers (even beyond death),...We deserve and should instead have about 600 King Solomons running things. Don't you think?

Neil

[Stick]

The VA, aka DVA is a political chip on the table and the veterans that it is supposed to serve are only added effort for political gain. Take the VA hospitals and get their bureaucratic oversight out of the politicians? hands and into the American peoples hands. Privatizing those hospitals won?t do that but putting veteran health care MANDITORY FUNDING into the oversight and at the demands of service organizations, who see the needs of the veteran, would. Too often you go to the VA and get sent from pillar to bureaucratic post in order to get anything done and it seems like a terrible waste of the taxpayers dollars. If you need to see a doctor and know what ails you why do you have to go from one GP doctor to be sent to a clinic to be sent to another doctor to be sent to a specialist who is the very person that you knew that you needed to see in the first place? Oh, and did I mention that you have to wait weeks to go for each appointment in the bureaucracy and more often than not those appointments will be cancelled by the VA days before they were scheduled and rescheduled months later. What the heck, they all get paid by the hour anyway and they have full time employees typing cancellation letters. Since I?m service connected I?m paid to wait so why would they give a damn? The VA hospital is just a good example of how the veteran is thought of. Go into that hospital and count heads treating people and heads treating the bureaucracy. It just doesn?t make sense.
Another peeve, Veteran education benefits. A guy (or gal) enlists and serves. He does his time and has to go through the bureaucracy in order to receive a chance to succeed in the outside world. Then his life has to be put on hold while he gets an education. Every month he has to reaffirm with the VA that he?s still going to school and if the school doesn?t also contact the VA monthly the benefits are cut off. PAY HIM or her what ever it takes to support their selves and pay for that education. More often than not a person enlist to take advantage of that educational benefit because they couldn?t afford to do it any other way. While you?re at it mandate those colleges and tech schools to cut some slack on the cost of getting a veteran, a willing and proven servant to this country, ahead in civilian life.
Lastly. Allow no one to run for a public office in the federal government (who holds the purse strings of the VA) if they are not veterans. If elected to the Commander and Chief office that COC doesn?t salute the Marine at the Marine One helicopter, allow that Marine to slam the door on the mans ass and leave his post, never to return while that man is in office.

[SuperScout]

Well stated, and my hats off to you for putting up with a cockamamie system without going "veteran", the appropriate term for taking action against a corrupt entity.

[Gimpy]

You can "help" fix it there Super, ya know.

Just get those "majority" folks in the Congress and in the Whitehouse to offer up that "mandatory funding" our friend Stick (and ALL the Military Service Orgs.) have so eloquently described!

That'll do it!