CBS: Wounded Troops Denied Benefits?

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/18/eveningnews/main589380.shtml

Many wounded U.S. soldiers are treated at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where President Bush today awarded Purple Hearts to 21 soldiers.

But CBS News Correspondent David Martin reports, wounded troops may return from war to find themselves in a different kind of battle — with the U.S. military.

A disabled soldier will never see combat again, but he might find himself fighting a new fight against the government's medical bureaucracy.

Lieutenant John Fernandez, who lost part of both legs in Iraq, knows he can no longer be a soldier, but he's not ready to leave the army.

"I personally don't think it's right to be forced out of the — the military and all of a sudden be forced to live on half of the pay that I was getting," he says.

[Momof1]

1. On the evening news they went on to say

About how the veterans groups use to be able to walk into the hospital, and meet with the wounded, to completely explain all of their rights. Now with the Medical records legislation, that just happened to take effect right before the Iraq war, they can't get anywhere near the wounded soldiers.

[RamboLiberal]

2. They said that in the article too

"I think that the military wants to get them off their hands," says David Gorman, who lost both legs in Vietnam.

Gorman is executive director of Disabled American Veterans, a group he says normally has easy access to wounded soldiers; but not this time.

"I don't know if it's a clouded secret about who's coming back, who's there, the nature of their disabilities, the nature of their wounds or not but there is not the kind of unfettered access that we used to have at Walter Reed," says Gorman.

Notice AWOL doesn't do photo ops with these soldiers - though catch his comments on this poor guy.

On his rounds yesterday, Bush met with soldiers who suffered entirely different wounds. The president has been criticized for not attending funerals for any of the more than 450 troops killed in the Iraq war, but at Walter Reed he has greeted several of the nearly 2,700 wounded in Iraq. He spoke with a soldier from Micronesia who lost three limbs in Iraq and has since become an American citizen.

"I remember coming here a couple of months ago to pin the Purple Heart on a fellow who lost both legs and one arm," Bush said. "Today, I saw him walking. What makes this story even more profound is he lost both legs and one arm not as a citizen of the United States, but as a soldier fighting for the United States. Today, I saw a citizen of the United States walking."

Bush praised the advances in prosthetics and medicine that make such recoveries possible. "Americans would be surprised to learn that a grievous injury, such as the loss of a limb, no longer means forced discharge," he said. "When we're talking about forced discharge, we're talking about another age and another Army. This is a new age, and this is a new Army."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13174-2003Dec18.html

[baby_bear]

4. There may be a big snafu here, I'm not sure, with the med privacy regs

The regs were promulgated under Clinton, but as I recall have been modified to not be so severe. Nevertheless, it would be really interesting to find out if the privacy regs are being used cynically to prevent the public from finding out about the injuries of the military and civilians serving in Iraq.

We need a smart DUer lawyer for this one!!

s_m

[joeunderdog]

13. HIPPA sucks

And I'm a member of the ACLU.

[sonias]

3. disgusting but not surprising

What I don't understand is why soldiers don't get this information out to their own. Once the government uses you and you have no use to them they quickly cut you off. So much for patriotism, these men and women are just disposable weapons to the war hawks.

Sonia

[RamboLiberal]

5. Read an interesting poll today on AWOL and military families

It was in an early December issue of Business Week talking about how AWOL may not be able to count on the military votes this time. It was a Battleground poll that said only 36% of members of military families support him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Lets put it this way

My hubby is about to retire from the Navy... and in private and off the record, few admit to liking bush

Scratch that, I have yet to hear ONE soldier, or relative, suport AWOL Bush.

Oh and as to the benefits, he is retiring, you would be amazed how hard it is to find about the VA these days

[Melodybe]

8. Not surprising, very few service men I have talked to like the shrub

I just wrote CBS a thank you letter for their story tonight. I encourage everyone here to do the same. They won't air stuff like this unless they know that their is a market for it. The media whores love Bu$h because of the de-regulation but they love money and ratings more.


To Nadinbrzezinski: I am glad that your husband is finally getting to retire. My best friend is engaged to a pilot in the Air Force, from what I gather, being the spouse of a military man is not an easy task. Congratulations to you and your husband.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. No it is not

but at least I knew better what I was geting myself into... and you are right time to write CBS a thankee

[PaDUer]

11. I just met a young lady today..

who just came home from her 4yr tour...She's so happy to be out, and she says that they can't recall her..however, she DID say that the draft definitely is in the worksss..We were discussing what physical/mental problems that would reject you from going. She was HAPPY to be out and feels bad for what's going on in Iraq and elsewhere..Isn't a pretty pix..

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. I see the WH attitude towards vets hasn't improved in 25 years

. . I visited a few vets in one of the vet hospitals in SanDiego in '79

. . What I saw, combined with the stories I heard made me wonder how the Government can continue to get people to enlist VOLUNTARILY for their armed forces. It would seem that most people are NOT aware of how badly the wounded are "cared" for.

. . If every potential enlistee had to take a few UNSUPERVISED visits to different vet hospitals, How big would the USA's armed forces be ??

. . Right

. . Next to nada, well, not without a draft, conscription or some sort of "forced" enlistment.

The USA will not survive as a power if they do not drasticly change alot of their attitudes, policies, etc. in the WH.

Just a Canuk's Humble Opinion

[TheLastMohican]

9. WH is taking care of that

They have guys from Micronesia to do the dying part. Losing three limbs ain't fun. I hope he is proud of his citizenship, because that is quite a hard way to pay for it. No matter how good those artificials are, those are not your limbs, he will feel that pain for the rest of his life.

[PaDUer]

12. I noticed on one of the shows

tonite, they didn't mention ALL the brain injuries that our troops are having..of course, they wouldn't want the public knowing this, would they!

[tlcandie]

14. On C-Span last night a veteran approached Howard Dean ..

about what will he do for all the veterans and 'RANTED' about VA hospitals closing down, clinics shutting down, people pushed away and left with nothing.

Meanwhile the blood falling from the hands of this country is beginning to carve out rivers :(

[Turley]

15. Headline seems misleading

I don't see how anyone's bennies are being denied. DAV is a great organization and all, but they are, in the end, volunteers. You want VA benefits you go to the VA to get the details. If you're not satisfied, you can always call groups like the DAV later. Frankly, I'm still getting bombed by mail from the VA.

I understand the Lt's unhappiness at getting released after his injuries, but every soldier knows that's the deal. The Army is not going to keep you with no legs. If he wants to continue serving he'll have to go with a civilian DOD job.

[Ganja Ninja]

16. My personal experience with the military medical bureaucracy…

(and this was over thirty years ago) could best be described as adversarial. It seemed like they were always looking for a reason to refuse service rather than trying to help veterans. It looks like the culture hasn’t changed. This is a real problem and it’s not right and it needs to be changed in a radical way.

[Corgigal]

17. Exactly

It's almost set up to be a workers comp situation and when youre active duty you don't think it can happen to you. I mean you served, its recorded what happened so why are all my files going to a board that meets sometime next month.

These kids have no idea what they are going into and will be eaten up. Wait until they are asked to sign up for social security they will freak.