Indignities endured by Veterans

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Indignities Endured by U.S. Military Veterans

A NEWS ANALYSIS

"I believe that our laws must reflect our gratitude to the men and women who so valiantly served our nation in battle. But to many veterans, it seems like they are remembered in Washington only on Veterans Day. Speeches are all well and good, but daily advocacy is needed too in such issues as health care and compensation claims."

Prior to the 2000 presidential election, President Bush outlined these views on issues affecting veterans. Some of his comments, like the one above from a campaign position paper, have been archived by Disabled American Veterans Magazine .

Today it's clear to many veterans that the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress think of them on other days of the year besides Veterans Day. They're thinking of veterans as they work to cut off VA healthcare. They're thinking of veterans when they refuse to address lingering health problems from the first Gulf War. They're thinking of veterans when they block full retirement and disability benefits. And they're thinking of veterans when Bush decides, yet again, not to attend a solider's funeral or pay a visit to those who are recovering from injuries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center just a few miles from the White House.

All that thinking has only hurt veterans of this country. Obviously, they deserve much better. And they deserve our full support.
We should be committed to revealing the numerous ways in which Bush has gone back on his pledge to be an advocate for veterans. Excerpts from news stories, editorials and speeches detailing Bush's and Congress' actions should be provided for all to see.

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Wartime money not going toward Iraq vets' health care Herald Tribune

Sen. Bob Graham of Florida argued last April that wounded soldiers were a certainty in the new Iraq war.

He asked for $375 million for their health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Appropriators bargained that down to $100 million in a 2003 war-spending bill and allowed the VA to use the money for other things.

Now thousands of Iraq veterans are using VA hospitals and clinics, but none of that $100 million will go toward their health care. The VA plans to spend it on processing benefit claims instead.

"Particularly with the large casualties that we've suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm stunned that they're not going to use it for that purpose," said Graham, the ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

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Wounded U.S. veterans get a raw deal at home Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Commentary)

There's no emotional sting like the one inflicted by that 500 number. It's larger now, the total of Americans dead from an Iraq war launched on false pretenses, but 500 is getting a lot of usage as the ultimate cost of this mess. It's a cost 500 can't begin to illuminate.

How about at least 9,000 servicemen and women wounded, sickened or injured? How about 6,891 troops medically evacuated for non-combat conditions between March 19 and Oct. 30, 2003?

"There are about 2,500 combat casualties," Dave Autry said on the phone from the Disabled American Veterans offices in Washington . "The rest are attempted suicides, vehicle accidents, other accidents, illness. Something that's becoming a big concern is lesions caused by exposure to sand fleas that carry a particularly virulent bacteria."

All of this could be categorized as the inevitably horrible cost of post-modern war in the desert, but the scandal is what is happening to these survivors once their government brings them home. Tom Keller, the immediate past commander of the DAV in Ohio, wrote to me last month about the secretive nature of the process.

"I can't speak for the DAV's national organization," Tom said, "but I have my own feelings about why the Bush administration is bringing the casualties back to the States in the middle of the night and wants to keep organizations like the DAV away from them. I believe the administration wants to keep the American people in the dark about the number of troops being wounded, the severity of the injuries they are receiving and the types of illnesses that may be surfacing."

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Veterans say Bush overhaul of overtime will cost them St. Louis Post Dispatch

Catie Shinn figures she made two "mistakes" that could end up costing her money: She served her country as a captain in the Army, and she earned a master's degree in college.

Either one, she says, could keep her from getting overtime pay under regulations the government is preparing to issue next month. Veterans and labor groups say 8 million other workers could lose their overtime.

A handful of veterans and members of the St. Louis Labor Council and Jobs for Justice gathered Thursday inside the museum at Soldiers Memorial downtown. With Navy torpedoes and Civil War-era pistols as background, they protested the Labor Department's new overtime rules and an appearance in St. Louis planned on Saturday by Vice President Dick Cheney.

"It's unthinkable that those people who have served their country so diligently in the armed forces now would be denied benefits," said Bob Soutier, secretary-treasurer of the Labor Council.

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Board member wants more awareness of homeless vets
The Beacon News

Dorothy Sanchez admitted she should have known better.

But the County Board member, D-Aurora [Ill.], said recent developments have opened her eyes to a problem she did not realize was as critical as it is: homeless veterans.

She said the realization came as she watched Democratic Party presidential candidates donating to a homeless shelter for veterans in Iowa.

"I'll be the first to admit I did not realize the situation," Sanchez said Monday at a County Board Public Service Committee meeting. "You just assume that people who go to fight for this country are cared for. When you find out they're not, it's nauseating. They risked their lives, and now they're homeless, and we can't do enough about it?"
Her comments were made to John Carr, Kane County Veterans Affairs office director, who said estimates are that of the about 3,000 homeless people in Kane County, 1,000 are veterans. That one-third ratio holds true nationally, Carr said. There are 26,480 veterans living in Kane County, he added, the seventh most in the state.

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Letter to President Bush
(editorial commentary)

I am appealing to you on behalf of thousands of military families that are being treated unfairly. I speak of the Survivors Benefit Plan. The SBP is not free. It has been a costly investment for our family. We have paid into SBP since 1973 and see no end to this inequity. This year (2004) my husband will be 86 and I will be 77 years old. The proposed law to stop paying into SBP after 30 years participation in 2010 is hardly acceptable. We have already paid more than 30 years.

There is also another penalty. My husband's birth date puts him in the "Notch Baby" category for Social Security benefits which effectively lowers the SBP. I do not see how in good conscience the Congress of the United States is able to find monies for congressional pay raises, space exploration, military actions, yet deny the military retiree what was promised back in 1973.

Something is very wrong with this country. No commercial insurance company has the right to change a policy. The government should also be held to its obligations.
(An overview of the Survivor Benefit Plan can be found at Military.com)

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Government Gives Few Contracts To Disabled Vets

Wall Street Journal

The federal government has a long tradition of encouraging veterans who want to start their own small businesses, especially those with disabilities related to their military service. But like Mr. Kemp, who lives in Duxbury, Mass., entrepreneurial-minded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan won't find the level of support that greeted troops from earlier conflicts.

"They are not going to get as much, and they are going to have to fight for that," said sociologist Paul Camacho, who researches veterans' economic issues at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Indeed, the already small percentage of federal contracts awarded to businesses owned by service-disabled veterans plunged further last year despite a federal law that specifically directs federal agencies to send more business their way.

Meanwhile, the Small Business Administration under its primary lending program guaranteed 6,750 small-business loans in fiscal 2003, ended Sept. 30, a 24% increase from fiscal 2002 but still far below the 8,300 such loans guaranteed in 1995.

"There's a lot of talk, but little action when you really need assistance," said Army veteran Rex Tolman, owner of an environmental engineering concern in Jamestown, N.Y. His troubles in landing federal contracts have led him to concentrate on state and local government work, where he has had better luck.

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Vets say visits restricted to U.S. wounded
CNN

One of the nation's leading veterans' service organizations accuses the Pentagon of "severely restricting" its counselors from visiting wounded and injured service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

As of January 7, the Pentagon said 2,431 military personnel have been wounded in action and an additional 383 wounded in non-hostile incidents in Iraq.

Most service members severely wounded in Iraq and returned to the United States are treated at Walter Reed.

In a letter sent this week to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Dave Gorman, executive director of Disabled American Veterans , complained that the DAV is being blocked from carrying out its congressionally chartered mission.

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Wounded "Held Captive" at Walter Reed
Disabled Vets Fire Back at Rumsfeld

(from wire services)

And so now we learn that ever since Operation Iraqi Freedom got underway, it has been easier for a terrorist to get into the United States legally than for a DAV representative to get into a military hospital to help wounded soldiers with their benefit applications.
Sickeningly, the Pentagon has been severely limiting DAV access to wounded veterans and doing it on grounds of "security." Oh, yes, and protecting "privacy."

It protects the veterans' privacy by not allowing them to speak with DAV representatives "unmonitored."

Fortunately someone blinked and it wasn't the Disabled American Veterans.

When he got back to the office after celebrating New Year's and opened his mail, Donald Rumsfeld found a letter informing him that he had messed with the wrong people this time.

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Bush's Budget for 2005 Seeks to Rein In Domestic Costs

The New York Times

Facing a record budget deficit, Bush administration officials say they have drafted an election-year budget that will rein in the growth of domestic spending without alienating politically influential constituencies.

Mr. Bush proposed last year to double co-payments on prescription drugs for many veterans, primarily those with higher incomes and no service-connected disabilities.

The White House reaffirmed its support for that proposal in November.

In the last week, the Pentagon has been considering a new proposal to increase pharmacy co-payments for retirees with at least 20 years of military service. Under the proposal, the charge for a generic drug would rise to $10, from $3, while the charge for a brand-name medicine would rise to $20, from $9.

The Military Officers Association of America criticized this as "a grossly insensitive and wrong-headed proposal." In e-mail messages to the White House, members of the association asked Mr. Bush, "Why do your budget officials persist in trying to cut military benefits?"

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Bush drug proposal enrages veterans

Houston Chronicle

The Bush administration is considering dramatic increases in the fees military retirees pay for prescription drugs, a step that would roll back a benefit extended 33 months ago and risk alienating an important Republican constituency at the dawn of the 2004 campaign season.

Pentagon budget documents indicate that retirees may be asked to pay $10 -- up from $3 -- for each 90-day generic prescription filled by mail through Tricare, the military's health insurance program. Tricare's current $9 co-pay for a three-month supply of each brand-name drug would jump to $20.

The proposal also would impose charges for drugs the retirees now receive free at military hospitals and clinics. There would be a $10 fee for each generic prescription and a $20 charge for brand-name drugs dispensed at those facilities.

A Pentagon spokesman declined Wednesday to comment on the drug plan, calling it "pre-decisional." But word of the proposal was being spread at the speed of light by veterans service organizations, who were urging their thousands of members to send calls and letters of protest to the White House and members of Congress.

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Bush Pays Lipservice to Vets, Then Slashes Their Health Care
(Atlanta Journal)

Late last week President Bush visited combat veterans at Walter Reed Medical Center. During his visit, he said "We have made a commitment to the troops, and we have made a commitment to their loved ones, and that commitment is that we will provide excellent health care - excellent care - to anybody who is injured on the battlefield."

His comments stand in stark contrast to the policies he has pushed - and the record he has amassed - as President .

Just this year alone, the President "announced his formal opposition to a proposal to give National Guard and Reserve members access to the Pentagon's health-insurance system"- a slap in the face to thousands of troops, especially considering "a recent General Accounting Office report estimated that one of every five Guard members has no health insurance."

The President also this year proposed to cut $1.5 billion (14%) out of funding for military family housing/medical facilities. This followed his 2002 budget which, according to major veterans groups, "fell $1.5 billion short" of adequately funding veterans care.
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MORE TO COME LATER!