"We have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us"

This is a quote from President Obama. "We have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us"


Over the weekend while in Washington DC, I had many conversations with veterans but I overheard a lot more conversations. I wondered where they got some of the ideas they had, where the misinformation came from but more so, why they were focused on what was not real instead of focusing on the hard issues that we do need to address? How is it possible that committed veterans, so caring, so concerned about others, would take what certain talking heads tell them seriously without knowing if what they are being told is true or not?

There are the usual suspects in this misinformation campaign. Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly among the most powerful with listeners of their radio programs and watching them on FOX. While these men are politically motivated in spinning what they say, they still have an obligation to the truth especially when it comes to our troops and veterans. I cannot believe, as callous as they sound at times, that they do not regard the troops and veterans in the highest regard but I have to ask why they did not report on all that was happening to the troops and our veterans over the last eight years when they could have been raising the urgency of their needs. It should never matter what political party the President comes from when it comes to them. They cannot dismiss the fact the men and women serving this nation are putting the needs of the nation first instead of party and come from all voting blocks. They serve with the same dedication no matter if the President is a Republican or a Democrat. The truth is still true no matter if there is a D or an R following the name.

President Bush had a habit of using words to say he appreciated the men and women serving, but everything he did was not in their best interests. There were less doctors and nurses working for the VA with troops being wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq than after the Gulf War. Where was the outrage then? The VA budge was cut with both military campaigns producing more and more wounded. Where was the outrage then? Why were they silent? When the conditions at Walter Reed were reported on the outrage was not focused on those conditions but against the Washington Post for reporting on them. When Nicholson was returning VA funds and soldiers were coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking help but were turned away because the VA was overloaded, where was the outrage then? The list of what was ignored by these men goes on and people finding out what they were not told are feeling embarrassed by the fact they thought they knew what was going on.

The veterans in our nation served one nation but have not been serviced with information from all political sides. When President Clinton was in office, his record on veterans affairs was lacking in certain areas. This was widely reported on but when it was President Bush, there was silence from the "right" commentators, just as now when things are being done for the sake of the troops and veterans, there is silence from them once again. They only thing they seem to want to now discuss is when President Obama wanted to address the problem of wounded veterans coming back and finding out they would have to pay for their care out of their own pocket instead of having their insurance companies pay for it until their claim was approved.

This is another thing the "right" commentators never discuss. In the 90's the Congress passed a rule that allowed the VA to collect payment for any "non-service connected treatment" allowing the VA to collect even on claims that being processed or appealed. The Congress did not understand what the language in this rule would do to the veterans. Until a claim is approved the VA regards the claim as "non-service connected" and all their care falls under the "Means Test" to see if the veteran can afford to pay. Should they have private insurance through a spouse or in the case of National Guards and Reservists, their own insurance, the insurance companies do not have to cover their medical needs if they were in fact due to service in the military. President Obama was thinking of how to solve this problem while looking at the backlog of claims along with the fact these wounded veterans were coming back and finding out they had to pay out of their own pocket as they fought to have their claims approved. The service organizations raised hell over this and President Obama knew he'd have to come up with another idea to solve this problem until all of our veteran were taken care of.

The most obvious answer would be to change the rules of the VA until the backlog of claims are processed and they receive what this nation obviously owes to them. While the service organizations were impressed with Obama's willingness to listen and change his thoughts, the media, especially the "right wing" commentators failed to report on this issue behind the concerns of the President and reported instead that Obama wanted to "charge veterans" for their care. This was already being done and had been done since the 90's. We were subjected to this when my husband's claim was being denied and all the way up to when it was finally approved.

We had private insurance but they would not pay because they said it was the obligation of the VA to cover his care. The VA was denying his claim and we were forced to pay out of our own pocket until his claim was finally approved. This happens all the time and has been going on for years. When we couldn't pay the bill, the VA attached our tax refund several years in a row. Eventually we received most of the money back but the extra hardship on us was almost too much to take and the media, well, they just didn't care.

Whenever I try to set the record straight I can see the doubt in their eyes. After all, they look at me and think I don't know what I'm talking about because they never heard of such a thing. They trust what they are being told by the commentators because they believe they know what they are talking about. I'm no one. It doesn't seem to matter that I've been fighting for veterans, no matter what party is in control since 1982 and had veterans in my life since the day I was born. I'm saying things they simply don't believe because the commentators are trusted more.

One of the issues I have with President Obama is that while he was campaigning he quietly visited the Montana National Guard to take a look at their PTSD program to address the need and the suicides. Yellow Ribbon is one of the best programs out there and his visit proved he was paying attention because he could have picked any program he wanted to, but he picked on of the best. Obama was so impressed with this program he promised to replicate it across the nation should he be elected. The media should be asking when this will be done because the military and the VA are still using a program called Battlemind causing more harm because it basically tells the troops if they end up with PTSD it's because they didn't train their brains well enough to prevent it. In other words, it's their fault. The media has been silent on this while our troops are committing suicide with higher numbers every year and increased attempted suicides. Will the Washington Post report on the fact Marines are crying on my shoulder because they were supposed to prepare and toughen their brains? Will any of the commentators on FOX talk to any of the families or the troops about this program? Does anyone really care about solving this problem?

It's not all on President Obama's shoulders but also on the heads of Congress still holding hearings asking the same people the same questions and getting the same answers instead of solutions while the troops and veterans suffer. Instead of asking people what works and what has to be done, they are talking to people that just became aware of what PTSD is. What about the people dealing with all of this for over 30 years with a history of making mistakes so they found out what does work and then do it? In this case all sides of the media have failed when they could have been reporting on what should be of urgent "breaking news" instead of jumping on stories that will not save one single life.

So here is something to set the record straight. This is from President Obama in his weekly address before Memorial Day. It address the fact the VA has just had the largest increase in funding in three decades. His actions prove how he feels about veterans. While I still have issues with President Obama this is proof of where his values are. If you hear none of this on FOX or on any of the radio shows you listen to, then you need to wonder why it is they are not saying a word about any of this while troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan, while they come home wounded and waiting for the care they were promised and older veterans are being pushed to the back of the line being told they will have to wait even longer.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, May 23, 2009

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Calls on All Americans to Honor the Service of the Troops and Their Families


WASHINGTON – On this Memorial Day weekend, President Barack Obama called on the American people to join him in paying tribute to America’s veterans, servicemen and women – particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice - and their families. America’s troops and their families embody what is best in America, and the American people have a responsibility to serve them as well as they have served us.

The audio and video will be available at 6:00am Saturday, May 23, 2009 at www.whitehouse.gov.


Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, May 23, 2009


This Memorial Day weekend, Americans will gather on lawns and porches, fire up the grill, and enjoy the company of family, friends, and neighbors. But this is not only a time for celebration, it is also a time to reflect on what this holiday is all about; to pay tribute to our fallen heroes; and to remember the servicemen and women who cannot be with us this year because they are standing post far from home – in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.

On Friday, I traveled to Annapolis, where I spoke at the Commencement of the United States Naval Academy. It was an honor to address some of America’s newest sailors and Marines as their Commander-in-Chief. Looking out at all of those young men and women, I was reminded of the extraordinary service that they are rendering to our country. And I was reminded, too, of all of the sacrifices that their parents, siblings, and loved ones make each day on their behalf and on our behalf.

Our fighting men and women – and the military families who love them – embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us.

And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We have failed to give them the support they need or pay them the respect they deserve. That is a betrayal of the sacred trust that America has with all who wear – and all who have worn – the proud uniform of our country.

And that is a sacred trust I am committed to keeping as President of the United States. That is why I will send our servicemen and women into harm’s way only when it is necessary, and ensure that they have the training and equipment they need when they enter the theater of war.

That is why we are building a 21st century Department of Veterans Affairs with the largest single-year funding increase in three decades. It’s a commitment that will help us provide our veterans with the support and benefits they have earned, and expand quality health care to a half million more veterans.

That is why, this week, I signed a bill that will eliminate some of the waste and inefficiency in our defense projects – reform that will better protect our nation, better protect our troops, and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

And that is why we are laying a new foundation for our economy so that when our troops return home and take off the uniform, they can find a good job, provide for their families, and earn a college degree on a Post-9/11 GI Bill that will offer them the same opportunity to live out their dreams that was afforded our greatest generation.

These are some of the ways we can, must, and will honor the service of our troops and the sacrifice of their families. But we must also do our part, not only as a nation, but as individuals for those Americans who are bearing the burden of wars being fought on our behalf. That can mean sending a letter or a care package to our troops overseas. It can mean volunteering at a clinic where a wounded warrior is being treated or bringing supplies to a homeless veterans center. Or it can mean something as simple as saying "thank you" to a veteran you pass on the street.

That is what Memorial Day is all about. It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation’s call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone. It’s about remembering the hard winter of 1776, when our fragile American experiment seemed doomed to fail; and the early battles of 1861 when a union victory was anything but certain; and the summer of 1944, when the fate of a world rested on a perilous landing unlike any ever attempted.

It’s about remembering each and every one of those moments when our survival as a nation came down not simply to the wisdom of our leaders or the resilience of our people, but to the courage and valor of our fighting men and women. For it is only by remembering these moments that we can truly appreciate a simple lesson of American life – that what makes all we are and all we aspire to be possible are the sacrifices of an unbroken line of Americans that stretches back to our nation’s founding.

That is the meaning of this holiday. That is a truth at the heart of our history. And that is a lesson I hope all Americans will carry with them this Memorial Day weekend and beyond.

Thank you.

President Obama taking care of Florida's veterans and all veterans

President Obama’s 2010 Spending Plan Initiates Transformation for VA Services

May 7, 2009
Record Budget Enhances VA’s Ability to Become a 21st Century Organization

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced President Obama’s 2010 budget for VA. The budget emphasizes a Veteran-centric commitment to expanded services with a 15.5 percent increase over 2009, the largest percentage increase for VA requested by a president in more than 30 years.

“Our 2010 budget represents the President’s vision for how VA will transform into a 21st Century organization that is Veteran-centric, results-driven, and forward-looking,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said. “This transformation is demanded by new times, new technologies, new demographic realities, and new commitments to today’s Veterans. It requires a comprehensive review of the fundamentals in every line of operation the Department performs. We must be sure that valuable taxpayer dollars are invested in programs that work for our Veterans.”

The centerpiece of the $112.8 billion VA budget proposal is a dramatic increase in Veteran health care funding, with an 11 percent increase over the current year's funding (excluding one-time Recovery Act funds).

“Organizational transformation requires changes in culture, systems, and training,” Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs W. Scott Gould said. “This will require resources, but it will also demand commitment and teamwork. The entire Department is dedicated to serving the needs of Veterans, and every VA employee has a stake in transformation to meet those needs.”

That transformation is already underway. For instance, the enhanced use of automated tools, coupled with more efficient processes, recent staffing increases, and improved training is expected to reduce the compensation and pension claims processing time to 150 days in 2010, or 16 percent faster compared to 2008, while reducing the pending inventory and improving accuracy. VA anticipates an 8 percent increase in education claims in 2010 compared to this year due largely to the improved education benefits of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act. Nonetheless, VA's goal is to complete all education claims without any increase in average processing days.

“We are making the smart choices today to improve the services that our Veterans receive tomorrow,” Secretary Shinseki said.

VA’s budget request contains four major categories of activities. These activities include: creating a reliable management infrastructure, delivering ongoing services, making progress on Departmental priorities, and instituting new initiatives critical to meeting the needs of Veterans now and in the future.

Nearly two-thirds of the increase ($9.6 billion) would go to mandatory programs (up 20 percent); the remaining third ($5.6 billion) would be discretionary funding (up 11 percent). The total budget would be almost evenly split between mandatory funding ($56.9 billion) and discretionary funding ($55.9 billion).

VA's new budget request provides for an estimated 122,000 more patients to be treated over the current year. Many of these patients will have multiple visits in the course of the year. VA expects to end fiscal year 2010 with nearly 6.1 million individual patients having received care, including 419,000 Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones who separated from service.

“VA has too often in the past been seen as difficult and bureaucratic as it relates to its charge of providing for our Nation’s Veterans,” Secretary Shinseki said. “Changing that perception will require a significant transformation. We will not nibble at the edges of this change. We must be bold and demand that we begin immediately showing measurable returns on investment in a responsible, accountable and transparent manner.”

The budget supports the administration's goal to gradually expand health care eligibility to more than 500,000 new enrollees by 2013, while maintaining excellent care quality and timeliness. In 2010, the transformation of VA health care will support scheduling of 98 percent of primary care appointments within a month of the desired date.

The new budget proposal places a high priority on initiatives aimed at making servicemembers' transition to civilian life and VA benefits seamless. This includes the President's initiative for VA and the Department of Defense to collaboratively develop and implement a joint “Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record."

The new system supports the administration's initiative for a uniform registration of all servicemembers with VA, will improve delivery of benefits by assuring availability of medical and administrative data useful both in future medical care as well as in the determination of service-connection in disability ratings.

“The Department’s number one priority is providing for our Veterans,” Deputy Secretary Gould said. “We have an obligation to make sure that every dollar goes to delivering timely, high-quality benefits and services to our clients—the Veterans. A strong corporate model will enable decentralized provision of services at VA by professionals in the field while providing integrated policy and coordination through a central office.”

The fiscal year 2010 VA budget fosters strong support for Veteran-focused information technology, providing more than $3.3 billion to ensure reliable, accessible and secure computer systems. In addition to improvements in VA's electronic health records, this investment will support the President's goal of making claims decisions timely, fair, and consistent with the extension of a new paperless processing initiative expected to lead to an electronically based benefits system by 2012.

VA-managed national cemeteries will be preserved as shrines while maintaining the current high level of service. The National Cemetery Administration would receive $242 million in operations and maintenance funding in the fiscal year 2010 request. The budget provides for activation of three new national cemeteries, Bakersfield National Cemetery in California, Alabama National Cemetery near Birmingham, and Washington Crossing National Cemetery in southeastern Pennsylvania. VA expects to perform 111,500 interments in 2010, a four-percent increase from the estimate for the current year.

The President's budget for construction projects and other capital programs in VA is more than $1.9 billion. This continues work on five major medical projects already in progress, begins seven new ones, and provides resources to support the cemetery system's expansion needs, including resources for improvements at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois, and Houston National Cemetery.

It also contains $600 million for minor construction projects, $85 million in grants for construction of state extended care facilities, and $42 million in grants for state Veterans cemeteries.

The seven new medical facility projects move VA towards new construction or renovations at VA medical facilities in Brockton, Massachusetts; Canandaigua, New York; Livermore, California; Long Beach, California; Perry Point, Maryland; San Diego, California; and St. Louis, Missouri.

Capital funds also will support ongoing improvements at medical centers in Bay Pines, Florida; Denver, Colorado; Orlando, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and St. Louis, Missouri.


People wishing to receive e-mail from VA with the latest news releases and updated fact sheets can subscribe to the VA Office of Public Affairs Distribution List.

100 Days On Veterans: A Reason To Hope

In 1982 I met a Vietnam Veteran and my life changed. Totally unaware of what the Vietnam War was all about, without a clue what PTSD was, I managed somehow to fully research it so that I could help veterans like my husband and their families. Keep in my at the time Jack was in Vietnam, I was only 11. This has been my mission and my ministry ever since. I've researched it and tracked it as if my life depended on. So now you know where what I am about to write comes from, aside from my heart.

When President Obama was running for the office, as a US Senator, he was on the Veteran's Affairs Committee. He was on that committee when most of the monumental changes and improvements were made to make lives better for our veterans. That gave me some hope. I was still on the fence about how serious he was until he made a stunning judgment.

There are hundreds of programs across the country to address PTSD and suicides. One of the best ones has been what the Montana National Guard came out with. They developed this program after the suicide of Spc. Chris Dana. With all the programs Obama could have picked to support, he picked this program. To me, that was the most telling moment in what he would do as President. Keep in mind that I've researched all of this since 1982, so for me to come across this program was nothing odd, but for a man with so many other things on his mind and issues to face to zone in on this showed he was fully invested in our veterans. It showed he did not just care with words, but serious attention and action. President Obama did this quietly and that sense of seriousness along with compassion touched my heart to the point where I had hope again. I still do.

Were there mistakes made by his advisers? Sure but they all make mistakes but the important thing is what the intent is. The intent is to once and for all prove the slogan "grateful nation" is true in this country and with him leading the way, we may just catch up to what other nations are doing for their veterans and then lead the way once more.

If you hear a veteran slam Obama for anything over the first 100 days, ask them where they were all these years when the veterans were betrayed and used. Ask them where their anger was when the VA was cut under President Bush or when there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA with two active military campaigns than there were after the Gulf War. Ask them where they were when Secretary Nicholson was returning funds at the same time veterans were coming back from Iraq and committing suicide because they could not get the care they needed from the VA. The list of things they ignored for political reasons caused so much damage to the veterans suffering and fighting for care, they cannot be forgiven for remaining silent. When it comes to our veterans, politics should never, ever come first. They should since they put the nation first everyday. They are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all serving side by side. They come from red states and blue states. They come from cities and towns across the nation and they do not serve just one party with their lives, but the entire nation including the people they do not agree with. As a nation we need to all come together and support the veterans with whatever they need because they earned it!

100 Days On Veterans: A Reason To Hope


Jon Soltz
Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, served as a Captain in Operation Iraqi Freedom
Posted April 29, 2009 09:01 AM (EST)

There's only so much a President can do in 100 days, and we don't know what a President will do in the remaining 4-years-minus-100 days, so it is hard to say a whether a President has been a success or failure. However, when looking at the needs of veterans at the end of the Bush administration, and whether those needs have been fulfilled, it's tough to say that President Obama's first 100 days haven't been incredibly encouraging.

When it comes to veterans care, most issues fell under three categories as the President took office - funding, confusion, and lack of access. In all three areas, while there's a ton to still do, there's been dramatic improvement in the first 100 days.


FUNDING OF VETERANS CARE

This area, above all, is the shame of the Bush administration. The Department of Veterans Affairs was consistently underfunded by the Bush Administration. The low-point came when then-Secretary Jim Nicholson had to come groveling to Congress for more than a billion dollars in emergency funding, admitting that the administration had not prepared for the boom in returning veterans in need of care, as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The underfunding had dramatic consequences across the board - from research and treatment into Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the shameful commonplace practice of veterans having to duct tape their prosthetic limbs, because the VA couldn't get them decent ones.

President Obama's budget for the VA errs on the side of caution - funding the department over the amount determined adequate by the Independent Budget (the budget offered by the nation's Veterans Service Organizations), and increases funding by $25 billion over the next five years.
click link for more

Vet groups hail Obama reversal on insurance

Vet groups hail Obama reversal on insurance
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 19, 2009 17:43:02 EDT

A political blunder that made the Obama administration seem like a penny-pincher on veterans health care could end up solidifying support for the new president and his staff from some military and veterans groups.

Although the groups are not at all pleased that the administration toyed with the idea of billing veterans’ private insurance companies for treatment of service-connected conditions, the fact that President Barack Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, met with the groups, listened to their concerns and ultimately dropped the idea appears to have won them some respect.

Retired Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., president of the Military Officers Association of America, was one of the representatives at two White House meetings.

“The president indicated on Monday that he was there to listen to our concerns and was willing to drop the proposal if we could not support its merits,” Ryan said. “To their credit, they listened and responded promptly, and we appreciate that.”

click link for more

Nancy Pelosi announces end of private insurance talk for wounded warriors

Pelosi: Administration Will Not Force Veterans to Use Private Insurance to Pay for Treatment of Combat-Related Injuries

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced this afternoon that the Obama Administration would not proceed with a proposal that could have forced veterans to use their private insurance to pay for the treatment of combat-related injuries.


Pelosi made the announcement at a meeting she and House Democrats hosted this afternoon in the Capitol with leaders of veterans' service organizations, who greeted the news with a standing ovation. Below are the Speaker's remarks.


"Good afternoon and thank you all very much for coming. Thank you for your leadership, for your service to our country, for your generosity of spirit to America's heroes, for helping us make better policy to honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, both when they are in active duty and when they come home. As you know, in the military, the expression is: 'On the battlefield, we leave no soldier behind.' And when they come home, working with you, we will leave no veteran behind.


"Particular to today's meeting and a subject of some conversation, I'm pleased to announce that we have some good news. Over the past several days, President Obama has listened to the genuine concerns expressed by veterans' leaders and veterans' service organizations regarding the option of billing service connected to veterans' insurance companies.


"Based on the respect that President Obama has for our nation's veterans and the principled concerns expressed by veterans' leaders, the President has made the decision that the combat-wounded veterans should not be billed through their insurance policies for combat-related injuries. [Applause.]


"I want to thank all of you, our friends came to me from the American Legion and many of you expressed your views on this subject. You had a great champion, of course, in Chet Edwards, who is Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on veterans; the Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, Bob Filner; the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Mr. Skelton, who is here; and the man who writes the budget, and he was never going to put this in the budget, I know, John Spratt.


"I want to thank them and you for making this important change. But it wasn't just the Chairmen inside the Congress, it was our Members as well. Mr. Brad Ellsworth is here, John Hall, Tim Walz, Jim Marshall, Glenn Nye, Vic Snyder; they and so many other Members, Gene Taylor. They -- and many members of the Armed Services and Veterans' Affairs Committees and Mr. Edwards, Appropriations Committee on Veterans Issues -- worked hard to make this clear so that this issue is now behind us.


"We have important work to do. Because of you, we have been able to have the biggest increases in veterans' benefits in the history of the VA. We did that a couple years ago as soon as we took the majority. And last year, we even did one better and now, working together under the leadership of President Obama, in the budget we have even more dramatic increases to meet the needs of America's heroes.


"So thank you all for the role that you are playing in this, and we look forward to this discussion today. Thank you all very much for joining us."





SOURCE Office of the Speaker of the House

Republicans suddenly propose big jump in VA spending

I am still asking God to help me forgive the Republicans that were in office when all the problems with the VA were being responded to by them with whining about the budget and not having enough money to go around. Because CSPAN was covering most of the speeches during the 8 years of the Bush administrations "leadership" I was able to sit listening to them say there simply wasn't enough money for what the Democrats said needed to be done. I heard the opposition to wanting to fix what was wrong by some Republicans. I am grateful calmer, more caring heads have begun to notice the VA is part of the debt the American people owe the men and women serving in the military. One day I'm sure God's grace will allow me to forgive them. This may end up being the first step toward it.

Republicans propose big jump in VA spending

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 18, 2009 14:26:09 EDT

Republicans on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee are proposing a $1.9 billion increase to the Obama administration’s veterans budget request for 2010, a jump twice as large as the one proposed by Democrats on the same panel.

About $550 million of the increase in the Republican plan would be in discretionary programs, which include health care and administrative costs and money to run the national veterans cemetery system. The remaining $1.36 billion would be in direct spending, which covers benefits, employment and training programs.

Democrats, who proposed an $800 million increase on March 13, would use $200 million of the total for operating expenses and $600 million for medical expenses.

Republican priorities include trying to improve the benefits claims process. A $2.5 million increase would be used to hire 30 more people to train claims processors; $170 million would speed deployment of a paperless claims adjudication system; and $5 million would fund a two-year pilot program in which veterans could pick the regional office they want to process their claim based on a performance report.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/military_republicans_vaspending_031809w/

President Obama listened to veterans voices

Dear Chaplain Kathie,

I'm on the road in Washington, DC, but I wanted to send you a quick update on two big breaking news stories.

First, just a few minutes ago, the Pentagon officially announced they will be phasing out involuntary enlistment extensions, otherwise known as "stop-loss."

The Pentagon also agreed to pay $500 per month to servicemembers forced to stay beyond their original enlistment term, which is a policy that IAVA has been supporting for a long time.

Stop-loss has had an enormous impact on the lives of many of our nation's troops, veterans, and military families. As I mentioned last week, tonight's episode of MTV's The Real World, which features IAVA prominently, focuses on cast-member Ryan, an Iraq veteran who was stop-lossed. The information about that episode, which airs tonight at 10pm on MTV, is in the forwarded email below.

Second, on what has proven to be a huge day for veterans, there has been another major development in Washington, DC. President Obama listened to IAVA and the other major veterans organizations, and made a critical decision to not move forward with a proposal to bill a veteran's private insurance for the cost of caring for a service-connected injury.

Today, President Obama showed that he understands and respects our nation's veterans.


Later this week, I'll have much more to report about this whirlwind week in Washington, DC, which included meetings with the President, Speaker Pelosi and VA Secretary Shinseki.

In the meantime, be sure to tune in tonight at 10pm on MTV, and keep an eye on your inbox for more breaking news from the nation's capitol.

Thank you for standing with us.

Sincerely,

Paul

Paul Rieckhoff
Iraq Veteran
Executive Director & Founder
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)

Rumor on Obama and veterans proven false

Rumor on the Internet has it that Obama is against veterans and wants to cut VA benefits. I've seen these rumors for a very long time but after a conversation I had today with someone I really admire, it's time to put this rumor into the ashbin of the people that started it.

I told my friend what I know about Obama's feelings toward veterans and that I have a lot of hope in him. He was shocked. Then I told him how Obama, after delivering the speech during the 2004 Democratic Convention, he had the opportunity to sit on any committee he wanted, choosing Veterans Affairs over others. He said that was where his heart was. (This article points that out.)

Aside from this then candidate Obama traveled to Montana to meet with the brother of Spec. Chris Dana. Dana committed suicide and his death touched the heart of the commanders of the National Guard so much so they decided to do something about it. They created their own program to address PTSD. After 27 years of working on PTSD, working with veterans and investing more than half my life in studying the programs offered, this program really showed great promise. Obama, as a senator, on the Veterans Affairs Committee, could have picked any program out of thousands to study, but he picked this one. This showed how much he was paying attention. He picked the best one. Quietly, without being surrounded by hundreds of photographers, he met with Chris Dana's family and the Commanders. He promised that he would take this program nationally if he ended up being elected.

This is how seriously he takes the plight of our veterans.

When you read rumors about President Obama doing anything against the veterans instead of for the veterans, remember what is true and what he is doing, then slam the people sending you false rumors. No one likes to be lied to and you shouldn't tolerate it from people calling themselves your friend. They have their own agenda and it isn't what is happening to our veterans.

Obama renews pledge to transform VA

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 16, 2009 17:00:01 EDT

President Barack Obama spoke Monday about keeping his promises to transform veterans programs and cast that pledge against the personal story of his grandfather, a World War II veteran who benefited from VA help.

Speaking at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which marked its 20th anniversary as a cabinet-level department, Obama expressed confidence in his VA secretary, retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, to fix much of what ails the agency.

Obama said the homecoming of U.S. combat troops as they withdraw from Iraq over the next 18 months will be a “test” of the nation’s commitment to veterans.

“I intend to start that work by making good on my pledge to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs for the 21st century,” he said.

Transformation, he said, began with a plan to add $25 billion to the VA budget over the next five years.

“With this budget, we don’t just fully fund our VA health care program — we expand it to serve an additional 500,000 veterans by 2013; provide better health care in more places; and dramatically improve services related to mental health and injuries like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury,” he said.

“We also invest in the technology to cut red tape and ease the transition from active duty. And we provide new help for homeless veterans, because those heroes have a home — it’s the country they served, the United States of America. And until we reach a day when not a single veteran sleeps on our nation’s streets, our work remains unfinished.”

Obama said his grandfather enlisted in the Army after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and after the war went to college on the GI Bill and bought a home with federal government help. Obama said his mother was born at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., while his grandfather was deployed.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/military_veterans_programs_031609w/

Obama says budget calls for $25 billion increase in VA funding

Obama pledges more help for veterans
Story Highlights
Obama says budget calls for $25 billion increase in VA funding over next five years

Homeless veterans will be targeted for support, Obama says

Dramatically improved services planned for mental health, PTSD, brain injury

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama pledged Monday to make good on his promise to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs and said he would "dramatically improve" mental health aid.


President Obama and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, seen here last month, vow to increase aid.

Flanked by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, the president said his budget calls for a $25 billion increase in funding for the VA over the next five years -- a commitment that will be tested by the needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"With this budget, we don't just fully fund our Veterans Affairs health care program, we expand it to serve an additional 500,000 veterans by 2013," he said.

He promised that the VA would "dramatically improve services" related to mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and he said homeless veterans would be targeted for support.

"Those heroes have a home," Obama said. "It's the country they served, the United States of America, and until we reach a day when not a single veteran sleeps on our nation's streets, our work remains unfinished."

Filner Releases Views on VA Budget Request

News
Filner Releases Views on VA Budget Request
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2009

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) released the following statement upon submitting the Committee’s Views and Estimates letter to the House Budget Committee:

“The Administration’s preliminary budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs calls for a total budget of $113 billion, a $15 billion increase above 2009 levels. The request includes $52.5 billion in discretionary funding – an increase of $4.9 billion from 2009, or 10.3 percent. The bulk of discretionary spending goes to VA medical care. This budget proposal marks the first time any President has submitted a budget that exceeds the recommendations of the Independent Budget. The budget forecast calls for a $25 billion increase over the next five years. Although we understand these numbers are not binding on future years, and the levels are lower than the amounts that will be needed, we applaud this move toward presenting a more honest and accurate look at our financial picture.

“The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs supports the President’s budget and has recommended an additional $800 million above the Administration proposal. This increase includes $600 million to safeguard veterans’ medical care funding and $200 million to assist the VA as it begins its transformation into an organization more aligned with the needs of veterans. We believe the VA can meet the needs of our veterans with this proposed budget.

“Over the past decade, this Committee has raised a number of issues on behalf of our Nation’s heroes that have not been addressed by the Executive branch. It is refreshing to receive a budget proposal that focuses on the issues of homelessness prevention, increasing education benefits, expanding health care access to more veterans, and cleaning up the claims backlog. Although this budget outline lacks detail and specifics, I look forward to working closely with President Obama and Secretary Shinseki to meet the needs of our veterans, provide for a strong and accountable Department of Veterans Affairs, and ensure uninterrupted benefits and services. We must spend these resources wisely as we work to create a 21st Century organization that serves our veterans. Americans demand this and our veterans deserve nothing less.”

Vets committee wants $800 million more for VA

Vets committee wants $800 million more for VA

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 13, 2009 16:56:21 EDT

The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee asked Friday for an $800 million increase in the Obama administration’s proposed 2010 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which already represents the biggest one-year VA increase in history.

The discretionary veterans budget, which covers health care and administrative costs but not benefits, would be $53.3 billion under the committee’s proposal that includes a $200 million increase in operating expenses and a $600 million increase in medical expenses.

Under the proposal, VA would see a $5.7 billion increase in the 2010 budget over current spending.

An explanation of the increase says that the $600 million for health care funding is not really an increase in overall spending but a revision in the budget because the committee does not accept an Obama administration proposal that it will raise $3.4 billion in 2010 by billing private medical insurance for part of the cost of treating veterans in VA facilities. That would be a 36 percent increase over collections made this year.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/military_VA_budget_031309w/

President's 2010 Budget Request Strongly Supports VA Programs

Recent VA News Releases



To view and download VA news release, please visit the following
Internet address:

http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel






President's 2010 Budget Request Strongly Supports VA Programs

Funding Plan Improves Access, Modernizes Technology



WASHINGTON (Feb. 26, 2009) - President Obama's first proposed budget for
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expands eligibility for health
care to an additional 500,000 deserving Veterans over the next five
years, meets the need for continued growth in programs for the combat
Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and provides the resources to deliver
quality health care for the Nation's 5.5 million Veteran patients.



The 2010 budget request is a significant step toward realizing a vision
shared by the President and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki to transform VA into an organization that is people-centric,
results-driven and forward-looking.



"Our success must encompass cost-effectiveness," Shinseki said. "We are
stewards of taxpayer dollars, and we will include appropriate metrics to
accurately gauge the quality of our care and the effectiveness of our
management processes."



If accepted by Congress, the President's budget proposal would increase
VA's budget from $97.7 billion this fiscal year to $112.8 billion for
the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2009. This is in addition to the $1.4
billion provided for VA projects in the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009.



The 2010 budget represents the first step toward increasing
discretionary funding for VA efforts by $25 billion over the next five
years. The gradual expansion in health care enrollment that this would
support will open hospital and clinic doors to more than 500,000
Veterans by 2013 who have been regrettably excluded from VA medical care
benefits since 2003. The 2010 budget request provides the resources to
achieve this level of service while maintaining high quality and timely
care for lower-income and service-disabled Veterans who currently rely
on VA medical care.



The new budget provides greater benefits for Veterans who are medically
retired from active duty, allowing for the first time all military
retirees to keep their full VA disability compensation along with their
retired pay. The President's budget request also provides the resources
for effective implementation of the post-9/11 GI Bill -- providing
unprecedented levels of educational support to the men and women who
have served our country through active military duty.



The new budget will support additional specialty care in such areas as
prosthetics, vision and spinal cord injury, aging, and women's health.
New VA Centers of Excellence will focus on improving these critical
services.



The proposed fiscal year 2010 budget also addresses the tragic fact of
homelessness among Veterans. It expands VA's current services through a
collaborative pilot program with non-profit organizations that is aimed
at maintaining stable housing for vulnerable Veterans at risk of
homelessness, while providing them with supportive services to help them
get back on their feet through job training, preventive care, and other
critical services.



Finally, the President's budget request provides the necessary
investments to carry VA services to rural communities that are too often
unable to access VA care. The President's budget expands VA mental
health screening and treatment with a focus on reaching Veterans in
rural areas in part through an increase in Vet Centers and mobile health
clinics. New outreach funding will help rural Veterans and their
families stay informed of these resources and encourage them to pursue
needed care.

$3.6 billion hike urged for VA health care

$3.6 billion hike urged for VA health care
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 15:11:06 EST

Four leading veterans groups called Friday for a $4.5 billion increase in veterans programs, including $3.6 billion for health care.

This is an even bigger increase than the groups asked for a year ago, and puts added pressure on President Barack Obama to keep campaign promises for full funding of Veterans Affairs Department programs.

The increase, which would result in a $54.6 billion discretionary VA budget, comes in the so-called “independent budget” prepared each year by AmVets, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The $54.6 billion budget includes health care, administrative and construction funds and some costs related to the administration of benefits, but not the costs of the benefits themselves.

Recommendations made in the independent budget often become a benchmark used by members of Congress to judge the adequacy of administration budget requests. Its timing — before the Obama administration makes its first budget submission — sets the stage for criticism if Obama asks for an increase of less than $3.6 billion.
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Joseph Galloway tells truth on Bush's deadly record of veterans care

During the years of the Bush residency in the White House, I've been hammering away at what he claims because the truth was far from it. In the process, anyone pointing out his deadly record of being a adversary along with most of the Republicans in Congress, were regarded as persona non grata. This happened to me.

It didn't matter that I was fighting for all veterans simply because they were veterans and served this nation, deserved far more than this administration provided for them or the fact the veterans were suffering because some people in this country equated "supporting the troops" as supporting the Commander-in-Chief no matter what he did. I was un-welcomed in the military blogger world and avoided by too many groups to even think of their names. If anyone was unwilling to give Bush a blank check to do as he pleased, well then, they didn't support the troops. That's what it boiled down to. Now a lot of the people that blindly support Bush no matter who had to pay for their support, are finally understanding what people like me have been trying to tell them all along. The problem is, it's too late for far too many. As lives were on the line, veterans were suffering and families were falling apart, these people refused to set aside their own ego and at least look at the evidence. This was a deadly delusion spread far and wide across the nation.

Everything in Galloway's article is fact. As a matter of fact you can find most of the reports here on this blog, but too many military bloggers wouldn't pay attention enough to at least read any of them. If they had, the strength of their numbers would have caused drastic changes for the sake of the troops and the veterans needing this nation to take care of them for a change. I can't even remember how many law suits had to be filed because his record on veterans was so bad people felt the need to force him into doing something besides talking about how much he cared.

Commentary: At long last, sir, have you left no sense of decency?
By Joseph L. Galloway McClatchy Newspapers
Even as President George W. Bush was packing up his knick-knacks and calling for the moving van, the White House spin machine was whirring along at Warp 6, doing its best to put a happy face on the sorry history of his eight years in the Oval Office.

The truth is that Congress passed virtually every bill to spend more money on benefits for veterans over the opposition of the Bush administration. Reforms in the care of wounded soldiers came only after The Washington Post exposed the shameful warehousing of the recovering wounded at Walter Reed Army Hospital, less than five miles from the Oval Office.

Even as the Iraq War dragged on and the numbers of severely wounded troops began rising sharply, Mr. Bush's Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, a former Republican National Committee chairman, was up on Capitol Hill delivering a budget with cuts in healthcare staffing at VA and cuts in nursing home care.

Nicholson, on White House orders, blocked four congressional attempts to streamline the VA's handling of a disgraceful six-month backlog in veterans benefit claims — a backlog that's only grown worse in subsequent years.

With its eyes on maintaining public support for Bush's war in Iraq, and not on those it sent to fight it, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's Pentagon pressured the Army and Marines to discharge their wounded as fast as possible with the lowest possible disability ratings.

As a result, those who had borne the battle were abandoned to the dysfunctional VA healthcare system, in which it takes six months just to get into the system and a month or more to get a doctor's appointment.

The Bush administration grossly underestimated the flood of post-traumatic stress disorder cases coming home from combat and, when confronted with the reality of more than 320,000 new veterans suffering from PTSD, major depression and TBI, it did little or nothing to expedite their care. In fact, of the 84,000 new veterans diagnosed with PTSD, only half, or 42,000 have managed to get their disability claims approved by the VA.

Some veterans committed suicide while they awaited medical and financial help, itself evidence of the abject and disgraceful failure of the system, and the nation and the administration of George W. Bush. The VA responded by understating the numbers of veterans' suicides and then covering it up. Only after a veterans group sued it did the VA establish a suicide hotline. A heckuva job.

President Bush proposed a half-percent increase in the VA budget for fiscal 2006 after his own appointees at the agency told Congress that they needed a 13 percent increase to meet — barely — the urgent needs for medical and mental health care for the wounded coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

While the budget scrimped on care for our troops, the administration somehow found room for $3.8 million in performance bonuses for the top executives of an agency that was failing to do its job and fulfill our obligation to those who served and suffered.

In 2007, Bush threatened to veto a bill to boost VA spending by 10 percent, or $3.2 billion. He said that was too expensive and countered with an offer of 2 percent. After Congress passed the bill almost unanimously, Republicans included, The Decider decided to swallow it and signed the bill.

His actions and those of his crony appointees toward our veterans is a blot on our consciences. To then turn around, as the door is about to hit them in their butts on their way out, and take credit for their “good work” on behalf of those they neglected is reprehensible.

Decent people would be tortured by their consciences, but these people apparently have none, and they have no shame, either.
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Bill would help improve barracks, hospitals

Bill would help improve barracks, hospitals

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 22, 2008 9:29:57 EDT

A $72.8 billion bill that would provide better barracks for some Marine and soldier trainees, fix antiquated military medical facilities, hire more veterans claims processors and increase access to care for veterans has cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives.

“There are not many lobbyists running around Capitol Hill fighting for better housing for 18- and 19-year-old young men and women who made the decision to serve and sacrifice for our country,” noted Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas.

Lawmakers have added $200 million for extra troop housing for soldier and Marine trainees to the Pentagon’s fiscal 2009 military construction request.

“We want to send the message to soldiers and Marines that we value and respect their decision to serve by improving the barracks they live in when they train,” said Edwards, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs.

The subcommittee passed the bill unanimously by voice vote.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/army_milcon_062208w/

PTSD in troops dismissed to save money! Was it worth it?

I am posting this is very large type so that no one misses a single word of this.

Four who committed suicide so that the government could save money! Many more each week did the same thing. Over 12,000 a year tried to.

VA e-mail: Save money, do not diagnose PTSD

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 15, 2008 17:17:30 EDT

Two veterans advocacy groups have asked for copies of all documents relating to the Veterans Affairs Department’s post-traumatic stress disorder policies after an e-mail surfaced asking VA doctors to keep costs down by giving diagnoses of adjustment disorder instead.

Veterans diagnosed with PTSD are eligible for health benefits and, in some cases, disability retirement pay. Adjustment disorder, on the other hand, is considered a short-term diagnosis, and does not qualify veterans for benefits, said Brandon Friedman, vice chair of VoteVets.org, one of the advocacy groups.

“They can say, ‘Ah, you’ve got something temporary, it’ll go away, so we don’t need to pay you for the rest of your life,’ ” Friedman said.

He said several veterans have told him they were diagnosed with adjustment disorder rather than PTSD, and that they felt they had received the wrong diagnosis.

“We hear anecdotal evidence all the time that VA is trying to cut costs by not diagnosing PTSD,” said Friedman, a former infantry officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “But we’ve never actually seen proof that it was being done in an organized way.”

The e-mail, which Friedman said came from a VA hospital’s PTSD program coordinator, was apparently sent to several VA employees at that hospital. A psychologist from the hospital in turn sent it to VoteVets.org, Friedman said.

“Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I’d like to suggest you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out,” the e-mail states. “Consider a diagnosis of adjustment disorder, r/o [rule out] PTSD. Additionally, we really don’t ... have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD.”

The e-mail also states veterans are appealing their compensation and pension ratings based on diagnosis from his staff.

VA Secretary James Peake acknowledged in a statement that the e-mail did come from a VA facility, but said it’s not official policy.

“A single staff member, out of VA’s 230,000 employees, in a single medical facility sent a single e-mail with suggestions that are inappropriate and have been repudiated at the highest level of our health-care organization,” he said. “The employee has been counseled and is extremely apologetic.”

VoteVets.org and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Freedom of Information Act request May 14 asking VA for all documents relating to PTSD, said Naomi Seligman Steiner, spokeswoman for the latter group.

“We’re not head-hunting,” Friedman said. “There are a lot of great people who work at VA who have helped me and my friends. We had to file the FOIA to get to the bottom of this. Is it from the head of the VA? The presidential administration? Or individual hospitals? I would like to know where this directive is coming from.”

Peake said his staff “works hard” to make sure mental health issues are accurately diagnosed.

“VA’s leadership will strongly remind all medical staff that trust, accuracy and transparency is paramount to maintaining our relationships with our veteran patients,” he said. “We are committed to absolute accuracy in a diagnosis and unwavering in providing any and all earned benefits. PTSD and the mental health arena is no exception.” http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/military_va_adjustmentdisorder_051508w/

Infuriated? Disgusted? Ashamed? What word would best describe what you are feeling right now? How about for the last couple of years as all of these secrets, lies, manipulation, neglect, have been finally reported on?

Do you fully understand what this all means? It means that what the veterans have been saying, what their families have been saying while watching them die a slow agonizing death, burying them after their suicides, that it has all been one gigantic lie after lie. It means this government, under the high and mighty Bush, the man who I and everyone else in the country has been attacked for reporting on what he's been doing along with the help of his faithful servants in the Senate and the House, have been doing against the troops at the same time they have been using them to do as they damn well please!

Have you ever counted the number of times they took to the floor and screamed about the need for tax cuts and breaks for the rich at the same time they were trying to save money on not taking care of the troops? Have you counted the number of times they said there was not enough money to fully fund the VA at the same time they had no problem asking for more and more money for Iraq and the contractors in Iraq at the same time they were letting bases fall apart and Walter Reed turn into a house of horrors for some of the wounded?

This was on ICasualties.org

05/15/08 AP: Contractors, insurance firms gouging taxpayers, panel says
A poorly run Pentagon program for providing civilian employees in Iraq and Afghanistan with workman's compensation has allowed defense contractors and insurance companies to gouge American taxpayers, a House oversight committee said Thursday.

This along with a mountain of bills we have had to pay out to the contractors for ripping us off, they never once said that there was not enough being done for the troops. And exactly how did they get away with all of this? It was easy. Because people who claimed they supported the troops didn't. The ones who attacked and harassed the people standing up for the troops, the ones who claimed others were not supporting the troops are finally being found culpable for their deaths!!! Does any of this sink into the neo-cons minds yet?

How many of them had to bury their sons and daughters who their heroes in the GOP refused to take care of and now, now the evidence comes out. Not from some all mighty war bloggers who have lived high on the advertising of their sites. Not from some flag waving, lapel pin wearing, GOP elected lobbyists making their next career move and rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful they were making even more rich and more powerful off this blood sucking occupation they refused to stop calling war, but by people who deeply cared for the lives they saw no problem in wasting. Yes, I said wasting!!!! And I will scream it into every scum of the earth hack who refused to see what was being done to them! I will scream it because they refused to listen to the cries of the troops who were begging to be heard by them. I will scream it until they finally get it into their thick sculls that it is not the Republicans who support the troops but it is the Republicans who use the troops and then refuse to take care of any of them!!!!

My Lord, what the hell is wrong with those people? Do they have the slightest clue what they have been doing to the troops? To the veterans? To anyone? Do they know what they've been doing to the families of them? Didn't they understand they have all been wrong when the members of the armed forces donated their presidential campaign money to the two biggest oppositions to them and the two who screamed the loudest about getting the troops out of Iraq? That's right. Obama and Ron Paul got most of their money! Did they ever wonder why that was?

I wonder if they ever even listen to the troops when they come home and they tell their families what they went through? I guess they are too busy only reading the troops who support the occupation of Iraq and want to paint a picture that can trump Valley Forge. They also didn't notice how many of these bloggers are being paid by defense contractors and the government to post the propaganda. After all, that's where all these claims come from. All the glorification of what is being accomplished in Iraq at the same time we're reading reports that most of the Iraqis no longer have clean water to drink and the rest that is going on there. How could they know? They didn't even want to invest the time in checking out the news reports from across the globe to be able to find out.

The men and women who enlisted deserved so much more out of them but they never received any of it. Aside from the gangs that the DOD made arrangements for to allow in to keep up the recruiting numbers and the others who had to get moral waivers, the others were born heroes. They felt a need to serve this nation and now I wonder why they were even willing to considering how much this nation has let them down. The men and women who laid down their lives for this nation did not waste their lives. All their patriotism, all their nobility, all their commitment, bravery and courage, their willingness to sacrifice for the rest of us, all wasted by Bush and his appointees that the rest of the GOP defended. How can any of them ever go to the convention and feel proud of what they not only allowed to happen to the troops, not only approved of, but demanded the ability to continue to do it to them?

I have friends who are Republican and they feel no need to associated with any of those who still want to support Bush and the elected in our congress who have anointed Bush no matter if he deserved it or not for the sake of power. All the GOP bloggers out there should be ashamed of themselves. All the talking heads on cable who kept on supporting all of this should be ashamed of themselves for selling the lives of the troops in order to get the ratings. I hope whatever Bush supporters hoped to gain by supporting all this suffering and misery inflicted on the troops was worth it. They will have to live with what they allowed for the rest of their lives.

There is still no answer on those who have been discharged under personality disorders and given a dishonorable discharge instead of being treated for PTSD. Last report they numbered over 22,000!


Now add this to all of the above

The numbers keep getting worse. Here is heavy dose of real FOIA facts, compliments of VCS:

1,668,000 service members deployed to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, about one-half of one percent of the 300 million U.S. population.

Nearly 100 percent involved in combat for more than six years in Afghanistan and more than five years in Iraq.

600,000 estimated casualties from both wars so far, where only half sought medical care, according to a new RAND study limited to brain damage, major depression, and post traumatic stress disorder.

500,000 deployed twice or more into combat – which increases risk of post traumatic stress disorder by 50 percent.

300,000 treated at VA hospitals after their return home – and VA still lacks a plan to handle the flood of casualties so that veterans are not turned away.

288,000 filed disability claims against VA for military-related medical problems, and again VA has no plan to process these claims accurately or quickly.

58,300 forced to remain in war under stop loss – military orders that force a soldier to remain in the military past the end of their enlistment contract. Many of these soldiers are on their second and third war deployment.

43,000 deployed combat after they were already declared unfit by a doctor – with broken legs, brain damage, and post traumatic stress disorder.

120 veterans complete a suicide every week. And 1,000 attempt suicide while under VA care each month. This is VCS in action, working hard to ensure that America does not forget about the sacrifices of our servie members, veterans, and families make.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10115

Lack of mental health workers worries senator

Lack of mental health workers worries senator

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 15, 2008 18:10:41 EDT

One of the chief architects of last year’s Wounded Warrior Act will press the service surgeons general about why the Defense Department doesn’t have enough psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health counselors to deal with the flood of combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will have the opportunity to question the surgeons general at a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Murray expressed concern that the Defense Department has not hired enough specialists to deal with mental health issues created by extended deployments, the stress of combat and other issues.

“The fact that we aren’t meeting the demand for our troops’ psychological health needs with qualified professionals is a great concern of mine,” she said in a telephone interview. “The Pentagon needs to tell us what they are doing to fill the gaps in the system, particularly when troops are being sent back into the field for their third and fourth tours.”

The answers are important, Murray said, because “all Americans need to know that the Pentagon is making this a top health priority and that innovative solutions are on the horizon.”
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/military_mentalhealth_surgeonsgeneral_041508w/

How long is this going to go on and when are they planing on getting any of this right? When will they do what they know works until they can hire enough people at the VA to treat them? What are all these veterans supposed to do while they "try to hire" more and make room for the wounded they keep adding to the system on a daily basis? This is disgusting, frustrating and reprehensible! There are long term fixes that have to be done because we are looking at probably 800,000 or more than likely more now that Vietnam Veterans and Korean Veterans as well as WWII veterans are finally understanding what has been wrong with them is a wound, but no one planned on any of them either. Do they plan for anything?

VA staff charged $2.6 billion to their government credit cards

Investigators Review VA Credit Charges

By HOPE YEN



WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans Affairs employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey — and government auditors are investigating, citing past spending abuses.

All told, VA staff charged $2.6 billion to their government credit cards.

The Associated Press, through a Freedom of Information request, obtained the VA list of 3.1 million purchases made in the 2007 budget year. The list offers a detailed look into the everyday spending at the government's second largest department.
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http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAPR08/nf040708-1.htm

Don't even get me started on this!

Bail out wounded veterans not Bear Stearns

Reid Calls Bear Stearns `Bailout' Unfair to Taxpayers (Update1)

By Laura Litvan

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said a decision by the Federal Reserve to provide as much as $30 billion to JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help it buy Bear Stearns Cos. is a ``bailout'' unfair to taxpayers.

``The Federal Reserve's latest actions appear to shift large risks to taxpayers, who may find themselves on the hook for billions in worthless securities,'' Reid said in a prepared statement. ``The public has a right to know why President Bush and his administration believe this bailout is necessary and what steps they are taking to both protect taxpayers and to hold accountable those whose bad decisions led to this crisis.''

Look how fast Bush moved on this. Do you think he could move that fast for the sake of the "troops" he keeps saying we all need to support? What about the wounded veterans and soldiers coming back without income while they have to wait for claims to be approved and still have bills to pay with no income? I'm sure the tax payers would rather their money go to helping the wounded veterans he keeps making than to his rich pals who have been sucking the life out of the rest of us with his tax breaks at the same time he managed to have two occupations killing and wounding the troops he sent then forgot about until he needs more to send. He bails out the jerks who did this to people who are going to end up losing their homes and yes, a lot of them are veterans. Poverty went up with him not caring and so have the numbers of people being homeless. With people paying more for everything and making less to do it with, you'd think we would have someone in charge who cares about doing the right thing for the tax payers of this country, because aside from it being the right thing to do with our money, it's our money! Remember when he said the money needed for the VA was too much money? He had a problem with spending our money then but he has no problem taking care of the rich. If you want to know why the veterans and everyone else in this country is having a hard time, ask them about their bank account and you'll know why. He only cares about rich people. Iraq is still going on because of the contractors and everyone knows it. Peace is just too damn expensive for them. There is no money in peace for any of them. The wounded soldiers are an expense to them they are not willing to pay for. This is why they have no problem coming up with the money to keep Afghansitan and Iraq going on and on without end but always have a hard time taking care of the wounded and the widows.

$30 billion? What would that do to help veterans or any of the people who are going to get kicked out of their homes?

3.2 Billion heading into veterans care but will it be enough?

U.S. Senate Passes Budget Resolution with Billions More for Veterans
By Kawika Riley, 3/17/2008 8:19:48 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2009 passed the U.S. Senate early this morning. It included an authorization for another historic increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, actively advocated for the increase and voted to support final passage. The Budget Resolution includes $3.2 billion above the Administration’s request for veterans’ programs, and will serve as a blueprint as Congress works to draft the Fiscal Year 2009 VA appropriations bill.
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