"Influx of Wounded Soldiers strains VA"- good article from WP, MSNBC

[wishlist]

New article about the VA claims backlogs and problems facing returning troops- Includes this paragraph:

Cuts Proposed Amid Rising Demand-

"President Bush's budget for 2005 calls for cutting the Dept of Veterans Affairs staff that handles benefits claims and some veterans report long waits for benefits."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6161353/

[fishface]

1. kick this because you need to hammer Bush supporters

over that dumb funk wanted to CUT the VA's budget at a time he's creating MORE disabled vets.
COME ON PEOPLE......

[Southpaw Bookworm]

2. Read this yesterday

And was absolutely appalled (tho not surprised) at this. A man is a quadraplegic and can't get his disability benefits? Another soldier has a hand blown off, a leg shattered (which was not considered a disability), and they have the fucking gall to question whether or not he has PTSD?!

I was heartened by the fact that not everyone there has been hit by the Bush Truth Squad: people were willing to admit how fucked the system is, and that it will be completely unable to handle the influx as more and more fucked-up soldiers return from the Middle East.

I can only hope that every soldier, vet, and all of their family members hear this and realize what four more years of Bush will mean to them as they try to get the medical and psychiatric benefits they earned with blood.