Sending disabled veterans away from the VA is not good for them

If you still think sending disabled veterans away from the VA is good for them, think again. After all, they should never, ever be treated like the rest of us. Especially when the same politicians tell us how lousy our healthcare system is!

(Gee, wonder why they forget about that part?)

Viewpoints: In Commitment To Veterans’ Special Needs, Be Wary Of Using Private Doctors

Editorial pages focus on these and other health care issues.

San Francisco Chronicle: Protect The Services Needed By Those Who ServedVeterans like me need managed, culturally competent medical care, in a safe community that respects them. Private doctors do not understand the complexity of service-related health problems. (Howard L. Hibbard and Marcela Davison Avilés, 5/25)

Boston Globe: For Many Vets, The War Goes OnIn the course of my active military career, I had troops under my command on three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. I have lost more of my soldiers to suicide than I lost in combat. That may sound shocking to you — it is shocking to me. But I have yet to meet a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan who doesn’t know someone who took their own life. That is staggering. I can recite the numbers. An estimated 20 veterans commit suicide every day, losses that are piled upon the nearly 7,000 US troops that have been killed in our ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Jack Hammond, 5/28)

Eddison Hermond National Guardsman and Air Force Veteran found

National Guard member, Air Force veteran found dead in Patapsco River, police say
WJLA News
Stephen Pimpo Jr
May 29, 2018

Eddison Hermond. (Photo, Howard County Police)

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (ABC7) — The body of the Air Force veteran and National Guard member who went missing during Sunday's floods, was found in the Patapsco River Tuesday, according to authorities.

Howard County Police say searchers found the body of 39-year-old Eddison Hermond in the river just across the Baltimore County line.
read more here

Memorial Day, we must commit to honoring those who died BY PAYING ATTENTION

Memorial Day Omission Mission
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 28, 2018


Well, here is something you do not see everyday...just almost all of them. Someone decided that attacking the VA on Memorial Day, passing it off as factual, just got attention for omission mission.

Here is a lesson on how history does not begin when someone decides to pay attention to it.

The title of the opinion piece I just read is,

Memorial Day 2018 — let's remember those who died as a result of VA's lack of accountability

but you cannot have accountability unless you actually know what that is and how long veterans have been waiting for it!

The HillBY RORY E. RILEY-TOPPING, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR05/28/18

Every Memorial Day, our news and social media channels are filled with images of heroic veterans, reminding us that “all gave some, but some gave all.” Typically, when we are honoring those who died in service to our country, we conjure up images of soldiers who died nobly on the battlefield, taking their last breath while shots blaze and bombs go off all-around them.

However, this Memorial Day, we must commit to honoring those who died for their country, albeit in a much less glamorous and unnecessary way — those who died as a result of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ lack of accountability.

By now, the VA’s woes since the patient wait-time scandal of 2014 first broke have been well-documented, including the fact that as many as hundreds of thousands of veterans have died as a result of inability to access VA care. From the current drama over the appointment of a new Secretary to Congress’s cold feet on choice and caregiver expansion legislation (the latter of which looks like it will soon be remedied), veterans issues have enjoyed, albeit somewhat reluctantly, a top spot in the Trump administration’s list of priorities.read more here

"...patient wait-time scandal of 2014" seriously may have been the only time this person paid any attention to what has been going on since men and, yes, even women returned to their homes after the Revolutionary War! 

I did not plan on spending Memorial Day actually getting people to remember the facts. Looks like I have to yet again. This article is a joke! And so is every other one trying to make it seem like any of this is new to prove a political point.

This is one of the biggest reasons why I think that all politicians should apologize!

January 2008
600,000 in the backlog

This is from February of 2008 reported by Hope Yen for the Associated Press. It not only shows how members of Congress were asking for accountability, they were also acting as if they cared.

Peake wants to reduce wait times from roughly 180 days to 145 days by the start of next year. He cited aggressive efforts to hire staff, noting the VA will have 3,100 new staff by 2009. VA also is working to get greater online access to Pentagon medical information that he said will allow staff to process claims faster and move toward a system of electronic filing of claims.

Electronic filing of claims...but veterans are still waiting for that to happen efficiently. 

Ten years later we have this piece of news.

VA inks $10 billion contract with Cerner for new electronic health record

Peake promised to “virtually eliminate” the current list of 69,000 veterans who have waited more than 30 days for an appointment to get VA medical care. Such long waits runs counter to department policy, and a group of Iraq war veterans have filed a lawsuit alleging undue delays. He said VA plans to open 64 new community-based outpatient clinics this year and 51 next year to improve access to health care in rural areas.

 Ten years later, we have this,

The $51 billion bill provides for a newly combined “community care” program that includes Choice and other VA programs of outside care. It could face escalating costs due to growing demand from veterans seeking the convenience of seeing private physicians. Some House Democrats warn the VA won’t be able to handle a growing price tag, putting the VA at risk of unexpected budget shortfalls next year. 

A veteran had waited for four years. And then there is this from GovExec in 2008

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Baker said VBA must have the funds necessary to upgrade its IT infrastructure to handle the backlog and a growing caseload. Anything short of an increase is "a recipe for failure," he added.
Carl Blake, national legislative director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America, said VBA needed $121 million in its fiscal 2009 budget for its information technology. According to VA budget documents, VBA requested an IT budget of $109.6 million for its compensation and benefits programs, down $23.8 million from $133.4 million in 2008. VA requested an overall 2009 IT budget of $2.53 billion in 2009, up from $2.15 billion in fiscal 2008, with the largest portion earmarked for the Veterans Health Administration.

In June of 2009 it was proven that all that really did not mean much at all.

The VA's claims backlog, which includes all benefits claims and all appeals at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals at VA, was 803,000 on Jan. 5, 2009. The backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14 percent increase in four months.
The issue has become so dire that veterans now wait an average of six months to receive disability benefits and as long as four years for their appeals to be heard in cases where their benefits were denied.
Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said during a hearing in March that the VA is “almost criminally behind in processing claims.”

I could keep going on this with over 29,000 posts on this site, but I think you get the point now.

Politicians create veterans when they send them to fight our battles...then make them fight Congress to repay the debt. 

If anyone ever tells you that sending veterans into the private healthcare system the rest of us deal with is good for them, ask them why. Why would anyone ever think disabled veterans should be treated like the rest of us?

If anyone wants to blame one political party over another, ask them when they started to pay attention to what they do. Veterans have never had a VA that is able to take care of all the veterans Congress created because Congress failed them first!

They have had jurisdiction over how our veterans are treated since 1946! If it still sucks to be a veteran in this country, ask politicians why they never apologized to them!

As for veterans dying waiting for care, that is not as simple as some want to think it is. Most veterans do not use the VA until they get a diagnosis from a private doctor that ties the illness to service. Then, they go to the VA, expect to have their claim approved and treated, but never look at the long line already ahead of them.

But again, nothing new considering ten years ago there were 8,763 veterans died waiting for their claims to be approved.

Why do they wait? Most think the VA is for veterans who cannot work, some think the VA is terrible because of stories they have heard and others, well, they did not think they would ever need them. Some are still getting trapped in the system with years of waiting.



Watch this video I did a couple of years ago to get even more ticked off!

Korean War veteran dying wish, for others to get healing help

Korean war vet honored for his service just hours before his death
Marshall Independent
Jody Issackson
May 28, 2018

WOOD LAKE — Korean War veteran Harlan Schwerin was honored the morning of May 21 in his hospital bed at Avera Morningside Heights. Staff members presented him with a flag pin and a thank-you card for his service to country.

Later that day, Schwerin died at the age of 90, having been haunted by post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for much of his adult life.

Schwerin wasn’t one to seek out personal glory, his daughter Kay Wothe, said Thursday. However, he would want to encourage younger veterans to seek the help they need with PTSD, as he had years ago.

Back then, PTSD hadn’t been labeled yet, and it was unheard of to ask for help. People who did ask for help often carried a stigma about them because no one understood what they were going through, Wothe said.

“He would want to help other veterans get the help they deserve,” she said. “He wants younger veterans not to be stopped from getting the help they need and to increase awareness through education.”
read more here

Reporter focused on Vietnam veterans with PTSD and Agent Orange

On Memorial Day, this is a pleasure to post. A reporter actually did a fantastic job regarding our Vietnam veterans.  
Sherry Barkas, The Desert Sun, wrote 'I need help.' Vietnam veteran in Palm Springs had been living for decades with PTSD and Agent Orange exposure

A comprehensive study of veteran suicide rates was released in 2016 by the Department of Veterans Affairs and showed that, on average, 20 veterans a day died from suicide in 2014. While it doesn’t break down results by wars, approximately 65 percent were 50 and older – which would include those who served in Vietnam and Korea.

David Carden served as a medic in Vietnam after volunteering for the draft in 1968. (Photo: Courtesy Photo)

The dates are right too,

By choosing the Army, Carden knew he would wind up on the battlefield where he said the lifespan of an infantryman was 30 to 60 days, but enlisting in the Navy or Air Force meant four years of service vs. two.

The Vietnam War started in November 1955. The U.S. had ships off the gulf in 1964 with the first ground troops sent in on March 8, 1965, landing in Da Nang. Direct U.S. military involvement ended on Aug. 15, 1973, though the war continued until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Those who served came home to a cold reception from a nation angered by U.S. involvement in the war – a far cry from the “Welcome Home” banners and parades that greeted veterans of wars before and since Vietnam.

And this is yet another important part to remember,

Carden recalled 1990 and the first Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush, when people were hanging yellow ribbons in trees.

“I remember driving through a neighborhood in Long Beach and they had all these yellow ribbons hung on both sides of the street with big yellow bows, and I thought they’re having a big neighborhood party. Then I went to another neighborhood and there were more of them.

“I was listening to the radio and they were saying the American public tied these ribbons around the trees for the Gulf War guys to come home safely” and as an expression of gratitude, Carden said.

“I pulled the car over and I started crying. I said, ‘What about me? What about us?’ We didn’t get this kind of reception, and I always resented that,” he recalled.

At the time, the VA and government weren’t helpful to the Vietnam vets either, he said.

“I never talked about the war. All of my pain and anxiety – PTSD issues – were just kept inside,” he said.

Please read more from the above link.

PBS National Memorial Day Concert Had Tribute to Military Women

PBS National Memorial Day Concert

Tribute to military women

Allison Janney pays tribute to Women in Service on the 2018 National Memorial Day Concert

And yes, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker being the only woman to wear the Medal of Honor, was mentioned. 

Memorial Day does not have to include you next time

Leaving Pain Behind You
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 27, 2018 

Commuter: Drives down same road without change.

Sightseer: Just looking at what others found.

Adventurer: Drives down new road to see where it goes.

Pioneer: Makes the roads everyone else takes.

What type of driver are you? Do you look forward to the next part of your journey, or do you constantly look in the rear view mirror?

If you escaped death in the service of others, why wonder where it is now? Why think that the others were worth saving, but you are not? Why look at things through the darkness surrounding you as if there is all there is?

It depends on where your light source is.

These pictures were taken at Glen Haven Memorial Park, at the same time, with the same camera and the same settings. 

There are things we see, then, there are things we just imagine. You may imagine that the pain you feel right now is all there is. Do you want to see things with a different light source?

Then look at the reasons you were willing to die for others to find the reason to live for yourself.
read more here

Life and death struggle for veterans, lost on reporters

PTSD potentially a life and death struggle for veterans
Lima Ohio News
By Bryan Reynolds
MAY 26, 2018

Veterans with PTSD face second life and death struggle

LIMA — Barney Hovest of Pandora last saw his son alive on Easter 2016 while driving him home to Chicago after spending the holiday in Ohio.

Staff Sgt. Benjamin Hovest had served two tours of duty in Iraq with the Army Rangers 82nd Airborne from 2002 to 2003 and in 2006. He returned home from his first tour showing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Barney Novest holds a photograph of his son Benjamin with his jacket and flag. Benjamin was an Army Ranger in the Iraq war that suffered from PTSD and took his life in 2016.

“He was different when he came home after his first tour,” his father said. “We talked on the way home and he actually talked about committing suicide. And I said, ‘You know you can’t do that. That would just kill us all.’ He goes, ‘I know, I just started going to this veterans group and talking.’ I really thought, ‘Finally, he’s talking to somebody at least.’”

On June 5, 2016, Hovest received the call no parent should ever receive. His son had turned his suicidal thoughts into action. After 13 years of dealing with PTSD, Benjamin Hovest wrote letters to each family member, got the military paperwork together his family would need for organizing a funeral, walked behind the place he was living and shot himself in a deserted alley.

“I was shocked because I thought he just sounded like he was different. He’s finally getting some help talking to these other vets,” Hovest said. “I don’t know what happened that day or that night. It’s a phone call I’d rather not ever get again.”
read more here


Did you notice the date? How is it that the press still settles for what they think is happening instead of ever researching how it got worse than they can imagine?

Isn't that what they are supposed to be doing?

This is Memorial Day weekend, and tomorrow is the official day we are supposed to be honoring the lives lost keeping this nation free.

Some died in combat and others died because of it. It is for them we have got to get this right...and long overdue.

'He Had A Very Sad Heart': This Memorial Day, Remembering The Overlooked Heroes on NPR seemed like a good story to read.

In 2012, Army Spc. Robert Joseph Allen took his own life while serving in the U.S. military. At the time, the suicide rate for active-duty troops was at its highest ever, with more soldiers dying from suicide than in combat. Since then a law enacted in 2014 requires all service members to undergo one-on-one mental health screenings once a year and there's been growing attention to reducing military suicide.

It looks like NPR failed to read this report before doing this story. Department of Defense Quarterly Suicide Report which shows that after the "law was enacted in 2014, it did no good at all. Keep in mind that as the number of suicide remained about the same, the number of enlisted went down.

The "training" to prevent suicides started over a decade ago and the "law" that said they had to have mental health screenings did not happen. All NPR had to do is review the videos on C Span during hearings with the Committees and hear Generals say they were not doing "post" deployment screenings and the Senators held none of them accountable for ignore the law.

Maybe if all the reporters paid attention all along there would be fewer veterans in their graves instead of in their homes.

Veteran Peer Support and Healing Waters

Peer programs key to helping vets move forward
Metro Daily News
By Jeff Malachowski
Daily News Staff May 27, 2018

Young, who spent 42 years in the National Guard, served for 24 months in Iraq and said there was heavy fighting during his second deployment, which took its toll. Young learned of Project Healing Waters while on a group hike with Manson and felt the companionship of his fellow veterans would help be a distraction from his PTSD.

SUDBURY — The tranquility of a peaceful spring evening at Josephine Pond is a far cry from the battlefields of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Instead of hearing the pop of gunfire, more than a dozen veterans last week listened to the birds chirp and traded stories as they cast their lines into the small pond behind the Wayside Inn in hopes of landing a trout - a welcome respite for some of America’s heroes.

“It’s very rewarding and uplifting,” said George Kincannon, a retired Army first sergeant.

A national program with small chapters across the country, Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing brings together disabled veterans from all branches of the military twice a month for an evening of fly fishing and conversation that doubles as a form of rehabilitation. The organization is one of many aiming to ease the transition back to civilian life and help veterans deal with grief and loss they experienced while serving in combat.

“It’s an opportunity to immerse yourself in an activity that needs your focus and not think about anything else,” said Bill Manson, program leader for Project Healing Waters’ Fitchburg chapter. “It’s something that pays dividends.”

Many of the close to 20 veterans that participate in the Fitchburg chapter suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Joe Young, a retired sergeant major with the Massachusetts National Guard, is one of those veterans. He said spending an evening fishing and socializing with his fellow veterans keeps his mind away from his memories of the battlefield during two deployments to Iraq between 2003 and 2005.
read more here

Daughter says Paramedic Dad had no one to help him

When my father needed help, no one was there
Sydney Morning Herald
By Cidney Jenkins
27 May 2018

Many of us assume that the most traumatic part of a paramedic’s job is what they find when they respond to an emergency call. What many of us failure to consider is what happens to paramedics once they leave a scene.

For many of us, an experience requiring an ambulance is often limited to a single unfortunate event. An event that will never be repeated or forgotten. For our paramedics, this is their daily life. My father, Tony Jenkins, was one of them.

As I sat at my laptop a few weeks ago, fumbling around with words for my father’s eulogy, I was left questioning how it had come to this.

How could a man, who preached about his good fortune, his loving family and his remarkably happy life, be driven to take his own life, without warning?

How could a husband, father and friend who had never spent a day in bed leave the world that he had so openly enjoyed and loved every single day?

But the final hours of my father’s life were spent behind closed doors with incompetent and insensitive managers, whose response to my father’s plea for help was to drive him back to his station, where he was left to walk off into the street, by himself. The next morning, police and ambulance workers came to our house, to tell us they had found his body.
read more here