Today again VA turns down five returned troops from Iraq

[Monkeyman]

I took five mental walking wounded to the VA in Chicago. All five have PTSD. After a five hour wait,each of these kids and I mean kids. Ages 19,21,21,23,19. They had been Iraq for 22 months and had seen things no human should see.Now they face a VA who just don't care. So back after a five hour wait each of these kids where told your claims had been denied.Why because the buddy letters did not talk about the same thing they had seen. If your in a fight you only see what you see not what the guy down the line see. This is the way the VA is working deny and force you to appeal.

This is Bush and companies support for the troops none

[babylonsister]

1. I wonder if a letter-writing campaign would help? This

situation is horrible; there's got to be something we can do about it.
Thank you, Monkeyman, for getting involved. I wish you had had better results.

[Sherman A1]

2. Thank You for your service

you are now on your own... Write if you find work!

[bahrbearian]

3. I love my country ,but I fear this Government.

K&R

[Hubert Flottz]

4. Same old Shit!

They promise you all the fine bennies, but what you get is the shaft.

[HereSince1628]

5. The VA treated me OK, it's sad all vets can't say the same thing.

In general the _quality_ of service at the VA would be a model for national healthcare, but _access_ to services is clearly a problem.

I wonder what exactly the criteria for PTSD currently are, and if they are applied uniformly across VA hospitals.

[midnight]

8. Access to the resource is the problem.

The delivery of the resources is probably good because most of it is coming from an R.N.

[Hubert Flottz]

11. They can't even protect your records!

All I ever get from them is..."Sorry we can't help you!"

[acmejack]

13. The VA is having a terrible squeeze right now.

They are closing vital functions and losing personnel. I have always been happy with the level of service at the VA and it compared real favorably with the HMO I used and the Medical Plans I have had when I was bucks up. I always used the medical plans when I had a decent job to ease the burden on the VA, figuring that was another guy who could get in. I have a fairly high service connected so I can always get in if I want to. It was good when I was traveling around the Country or out of work, damned shame I almost had to get killed to get it.

They have even closed the Pain Management Clinic at the Central Texas VA Medical Center. Think you would want to treat war veterans for chronic pain? It's impossible to get a simple CAT Scan seven month wait. Went from hurry up and wait to Medicate and wait!

[mike_c]

6. want to do some good?-- set each of these kids up in a booth...

...outside a recruitment office. Let them tell their stories to everyone who passes by. What they've seen and done, and what the gov't has done to help them since.

[opihimoimoi]

7. THE GOP is shooting themselves and they wonder why the People out there

HATE THEM???

Their INSENSITIVITY and RENEGING of the RIGHT THING TO DO is HORRID....Keep up with these stories and the GOP will lose the whole Caboodle

House, Senate, and Oval Office...The GOP have lost their Credibility to be in control....They know NOT HOW TO LEAD...

[AndyA]

9. THIS is the story the MSM should be covering instead of JonBenet.

And how was that again, George? Support the troops? Well, we can see how YOU support them. Everything George Bush has touched during his life has turned to shit. EVERYTHING. I cannot believe that this is being tolerated by Congress. There is no excuse for this. NONE.

[acmejack]

10. That's the way they are playing it.

They will wait until these kids hurt themselves or even worse somebody else. They will almost surely go engage in some type of self destructive behavior. Substance abuse then the street and somewhere in between they get involved with the legal system and there is no chance of meaningful intervention in this political climate.

I see it too, I see the anger & worse, I see the hurt when they realize what they were promised is being denied them.

[porphyrian]

12. I don't blame the bureaucrats as much as those dooming them to fail...

...by underfunding the VA in the first place, then cutting funding more to give multiple wartime tax cuts to the richest minority of Americans at our expense. It's got to be frustrating, though. Chin up, man.

[Solo_in_MD]

14. VA has been on a downhill slide for 20 years

The mess in Iraq has increased the load, but that does not mean it wasn't already headed down

[Hubert Flottz]

15. You are exactly right.

Since Reagan/Bush...that's when they started to fail me!

[ninkasi]

16. Absolutely inexcusable

I wish some of the SUVs with Bush/Cheney stickers, and yellow ribbons, would care to explain to us how they think the Bush administration is supporting the troops. Democrats support the troops, that's why we want them safely home, instead of giving up their lives, or minds, to enrich Bush cronies. I look at it this way...with all of the money that has been wasted by overcharges, or charges for services that were never rendered, or paying the huge salaries of Blackwater employees...if we can pay for that, we can pay to do whatever is necessary to pay the debt we owe to the ones who serve their country.

If, in order to keep our government's promises to the ones who step up and enlist, we have to roll back the tax breaks for the uber-wealthy, then we should do it. Bush is breaking the back of the military by completely ignoring the debts we owe to them. He is bankrupting us with excessive spending, and immoral tax breaks to the ones who need them the least. If current articles I've read are true, and I believe them to be, now Cheney is trying to instigate a war with Iran. This is nothing short of criminal.

Monkeyman, I have so much respect for you, and for the others who do everything they can for these young men and women. Yes, the VA is working to deny claims, forcing them to appeal, probably counting on some of them to get so discouraged they just give up. Compassionate conservatism at it's finest. What you do must be a huge drain on your emotions, but you can't let the ones you're trying to help know, I'm sure you try to keep their spirits up.

This country has badly lost it's moral compass, and it's time to regain it. We absolutely must convince people that a vote for a Republican is a vote for the destruction of the American middle class, and a death sentence to those already poor. Voting for a Republican is voting for war after war, and then more war, and draining the rest of us dry, in their ceaseless quest to squeeze the wealth up to the top. It's a vote for hopelessness, poverty, corruption, and greed. A vote for a Republican is a vote for an end to the First Amendment, and most of the others. It's a vote to destroy what was good about the country, and condemn most of us to expect less and less, while they take more and more.

It's bad enough to rob us of our money, it's beyond criminal to rob the soldiers of their lives, their health, and to condemn them to living lives which will forever be full of pain. The necessity of regaining control of Congress has never been greater.

[flyarm]

17. THANK YOU MONKEYMAN your kindness is not missed by others!!

as far as this admin goes and republicans they are the scum of the world..they are filthy pigs..and they do not give a rats ass about soldiers or anyone else!

they are the most murdering , mean spirited,greedy son of a bitches..war criminal loving , corrupt mother fuckers there are on the face of the earth! Hell will be too good for the whole lot of them!

Thank you sir for caring for our soldiers and taking your time to invest in trying to get them care..it is the best investment you will ever make in your life..and we are all beholding to those kids..

my heart breaks for them all!

fly

[w4rma]

18. The Republicans have passed lots of budget cuts to the VA, recently. (nt)