"Empty Chairs"

[David]

Gimpy

Joined: Aug 23, 2001
Posts: 15
From: "Jawga"

Posted: 2001-08-24 18:05
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Below is the text of an article from this months Military Order of The Purple Heart magazine. The author of the article is the Adjutant General of the M.O.P.H., John B. Kirby. He describes a condition that is near & dear to my heart----"Empty Chairs" in the halls of Congress.

We MUST be more active in our support, and visability before our elected leaders.

Gimpy

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Last week I attended a "round-robin" discussion that had been set up by the House Subcommittee on Veterans Benefits. Veterans' Service Organizations, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) officials and Members of Congress were present at the meeting.

Many isues essential to veterans were discussed in depth. Centralized training for DVA adjudicators, which has never been attempted will be in place in the very near future. The DVA's duty to assist is being done by telephone now, rather than sending a letter to the veteran and requesting the information back within sixty days. More than 35,000 new cases are anticipated this year in diabetes claims alone. That number may escalate to 80,000 next year. Attempting to keep up with the case load, the DVA has hired 740 new staff as of June 15, 2001. They anticipate hiring another 184 through September 30, 2001.

Cases that require special handling (those terminally ill veterans, visually impaired veterans, former POWs, etc.) was explained. These veterans will receive frequent personal contact by DVA personnel to assist them. The initial contact will be made within 30 days, with personal contact made every 60 days until the case is decided.

The three paragraphs above are the usual discussions at such meetings; talking about what the DVA IS accomplishing--and what they HOPE to accomplish in the future.

Several members of Congress were present and made statements as to their concerns for the length of time required in the adjudication process of claims filed and other concerns in funding of DVA programs.

THIS is where my article REALLY begins this month!

One member of Congress indicated his concern that the Congress does NOT have the support of Veterans themselves to help funding of their programs. He's RIGHT! It is a familiar situtation that I have been in a number of times. Patriots have suggested and DEMANDED certain actions of the National Organization(s). When a plan is drawn up and discussion initiated at a National Convention, I go charging up the "hill" and find out that when I get to the top, all those Patriots who were wanting action were STILL at the "bottom" of the "hill" watching me go it alone! Most of our Congressman and women are in the same situation. They WANT to "fight" for us, BUT---they don't get our support!

Congress gets thousands of letters daily from AARP constituents, NRA members and other "groups" demanding special priorities. As one Congressman remarked, "You are the--EMPTY CHAIRS--in Congress". Veterans need to contact their district Representatives and EACH member of the House & Senate Veterans Affairs Committees. It doesn't matter that the members of those committees may not be from YOUR voting district. The NEED our assistance to fight "our" battles. We are sending them in there without any ammunition! They need to go in "armed" with boxes & boxes of letters they receive to show that a group of Americans is desperately hurting and needs HELP!

Petitions are not the answer. That only shows a Member of Congress that one veteran had a topic of importance enough for him (or her) to go out and get a few hundred signatures. Our Congress needs our CONSTANT outcry about things that are important to US! We have had the attitude of "Let Joe Blow do it" for so long regarding our issues that "Joe Blow" thinks he can do "it" any way he wants!

I get a lot of mail concerning issues of which YOU want ME to "do something about". If Congress needs letters to "fight" our battles and YOU didn't write to them, what do you think I can do about it?? I---(WE ALL) need your support. I attempt to get "Purple Hats" to go to the Appropriations Committees each year with me. And, each year in Congress I go there and observe the "EMPTY CHAIRS"!!!

John B. Kirby
National Adjutant General
Military Order of The Purple Heart

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There you have it my fellow vets, what are YOU going to do about it??



_________________
Gimpy RIVERENE**MUD-GRUNT "I ain't no fortunate son"