Broken Soldiers and a Broken System

Apr. 8, Letter to Editor: Broken Soldiers and a Broken System


Senator John Edwards


New York Times

Apr 08, 2008
To the Editor, New York Times:

In “For Wounded Veterans and Their Families, a Journey Without Maps” (Editorial Observer, March 24), Lawrence Downes missed an important opportunity to explain why both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs are unprepared to care for the service members who have been hurt in the Iraq war.

The reason is that the frequently reported number of the wounded in action (29,320 as of March 1) does not include everyone who’s been hurt.

The complete number of nonfatal casualties in Iraq is 60,645. Most assume the wounded number includes all, but it does not. It leaves out another 8,273 injured and 23,052 who became ill and required medical air transport from the war zone. The Department of Defense releases two reports: one with the weekly numbers of those wounded and killed, and then another monthly report with the complete numbers. After five years, it is time for respected news organizations to use the complete number.

The public needs this information so that we can better prepare for the care of all of our veterans from this war and others. The struggle for them and their families your article addressed is happening all across this country. Nearly 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have already sought care from the V.A.

The system is broken. That is why so many veterans are still fighting for the care they earned. That is why their families struggle with paperwork and months of delay. And that is why 154,000 veterans sleep on grates or under bridges every night.

We have tens of thousands set to come home, and we aren’t prepared. Every day we should honor the more than 4,000 lives lost: every suicide, bullet or serious accident.

And every day we should honor those who have been hurt. That number is 60,645 and rising.

John Edwards
Chapel Hill, N.C., March 31, 2008

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/9759

John Edwards got my vote down here in Florida. It was before he dropped out when I took advantage of early voting. He received that vote because he was speaking out on the homeless veterans in this country and giving them a voice when no one else would. He has a habit of doing that. Giving voices to those who think they are relegated to be silent.

1 : to send into exile : BANISH 2 : ASSIGN : as a : to assign to a place of insignificance or of oblivion : put out of sight or mind b : to assign to an appropriate place or situation on the basis of classification or appraisal

We talk a lot about what we owe the men and women who are willing to risk their lives but we do not join those words with actions. For the most part, regular citizens across the country are stepping up attempting to fill in where the government has failed. They are trying moving mountains with a shovel when it is dynamite that is required to move barriers as quickly as possible. While it is the politicians who send these men and women to risk their lives, they are the last to provide the care for them.

The two reporters from the Washington Post, Dana Priest and Anne Hull, did such a fantastic job of their reporting about the conditions at Walter Reed, that the Pulitzer committee chose those reports for their prestigious award. If it did not provide such a power statement regarding the urgent need to make changes, nothing did. Americans were moved to contact their politicians and demand action. So how is it that the rest of the DOD and the VA did not become instantaneously state of the art and have the ability to take care of all the wounded? They didn't because they got away with it.

While the DOD will have us believe that there are only 29,320 wounded, this would really be sickening they cannot take care of less than 30,000 wounded with the wounded coming over a period of 5 years. That claim alone should have sicken every American with the abysmal performance of the DOD, understanding they could not even take care of that few. The truth is there were many, many more. John Edwards dared yet again to address this. It would be great if there were more honest and aware people giving voice to those who have been silenced by ignorance.

O'Reilly now denies veterans are homeless too?

Excuse my language here but I can't help it. What the hell is wrong with this bastard? First he denies soldiers are being sent back into combat with PTSD and a pocket full of pills. Then he denies veterans are homeless. He went on to talk about illegal aliens sending money back home? What country deserves to have this bastard living in it because it certainly isn't this one? He gets paid how much to slander our troops and veterans? What is he trying to prove? Does he think if he says it isn't so, it suddenly goes away? What about his responsibility in all of this with his huge paycheck and audience?

Readers of this blog know what PTSD. They know how many suicides there have been because of PTSD. They know how many homeless people there are and they know what causes them to be homeless. They are aware! O'Reilly lives in a land of his own making.

I'm tired of this man saying whatever he wants and never, ever having to face those he attacks and denies their existence instead of helping them.

What if every service organization across the country dealing with the homeless veterans writes to FOX and demands he apologize for this? How about every family member who has had a son or daughter deployed back into combat with diagnosed PTSD and prescriptions do the same? What if the thousands upon thousands of family members who have had a son or daughter commit suicide because of PTSD and service to this country do the same? How about they get joined by the hundreds of thousands of people dedicating their lives to helping these people do the same? Can FOX news allow any of this bastard's ranting to go on unchallenged?

O'Reilly and FOX have a responsibility to their viewers. It is one thing to not report on what is going on which they do consistently but another to lie about it.

From Crooks and Liars
O’Reilly Slams Edwards For Standing Up For Homeless Veterans
By: billw on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 3:05 PM - PST



On Friday, Billo showed off his pundit wisdom idiocy following the Iowa caucus and went after John Edwards for saying the US should be taking better care of our veterans.
Download (1624) Play (2866) Download (1014) Play (1725)

O’Reilly: As for John Edwards, Good grief! this guy has no clue. (plays clip)
Edwards: … and tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates. We are better than this. (see Edward’s speech here)

O’Reilly: That was Edwards’ concession speech last night. I mean, come on. The only thing sleeping under a bridge is that guy’s brain. 10 million illegal alien workers are sending billions of dollars back home and Edwards is running around saying nobody has any money. Hard to believe.

Billo, who has a history of insulting veterans, just dismissed outright the plight of homeless men and women who have served in our nation’s military and implied that they don’t even exist. To mask his callous indifference he threw out illegal immigration as a red herring and insulted Edwards by saying he “has no clue.” Well, as usual, Falafel Boy is the one who desperately needs to get a clue.

In 2006, approximately 195,827 veterans were homeless on a given night—an increase of 0.8 percent from 194,254 in 2005. More veterans experience homeless over the course of the year. We estimate that 336,627 were homeless in 2006.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/01/06/oreilly-
slams-edwards-for-standing-up-for-homeless-veterans/

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Oreilly@foxnews.com

Here is the email I just sent.

I was shocked to hear O'Reilly deny our veterans are homeless. I've worked in veteran's outreach for 25 years and this is beyond pathetic. In O'Reilly's failed attempt to go after John Edwards, he ended up attacking homeless veterans in this county and all veterans who have served this nation. Denying the problem exists may allow him to sleep peacefully in his luxurious surroundings, blissfully thinking he deserves any of it but at the same time veterans are homeless and sleeping in boxes, under bridges and fighting their way into shelters that just don't have enough room for them. Half of the homeless veterans have PTSD, a war wound which is something O'Reilly will never have to worry about because it requires a person to have a soul first and be brave enough to serve this nation, willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the people in this nation. It requires a conscience which O'Reilly apparently lacks. Wasn't it bad enough that O'Reilly and Hunt denied the soldiers were being sent back into combat with medication for PTSD? I wonder how many lives could have been saved had he addressed the problem instead of denying it? I wonder how many homeless veterans would be taken care of if O'Reilly addressed the problem instead of denying it? Can you think of a better way for him to spend a fraction of his money or inspire his viewers to do the same than to help take care of these forgotten veterans?

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com

"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 veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

- George Washington