You’ve probably seen on the news that there are hundreds of thousands of disabled American veterans waiting for their benefits — some of them more than five years and counting. These men and women sacrificed for us and we can’t even give them their benefits in a timely manner? Inexcusable. Disgraceful. You can sign a petition at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America website asking Pres. Obama appoint a commission to deal with the backlog. Who knows, it might even make a difference.
You wouldn’t think such a thing could happen in the U. S. of A, but the last time something like this happened, Generals Douglas MacArthur and George Patton led the military effort to maim, kill and burn out the protesters.
Oh yeah, the protesting military veteran American citizens were (for the most part) unarmed.
I didn’t know about that. Shameful. Seems this country is perfectly willing to get into a war, but not willing to pay for it. Those who fought for all of us deserve to be promptly compensated, as promised. And don’t tell me bureaucracy can’t handle it. Social Security and Medicare had me up and running in a couple of days. On the flip side, if you owe the IRS, you can bet they won’t wait five years to get paid.
Returning Veterans Project http://www.returningveterans.org/ here in Portland OR is one non-govt. solution. Professionals ranging from counselors to massage therapists offer services to veterans and their families. That the VA cannot do better is unconscionable. Curious that a commission needed to study this.
What do you think of the idea of retired people volunteering to push papers faster?
Commission = committee = SNAFU. I don’t expect anything to come it. And yet, you know if the government really cared, they could get the job done. We put a man on the moon in 9 years!
If pushing papers was all it took, I’d say our volunteering would be a great idea. Assuming the gov’t would accept as qualified to handle their precious papers. But one story I saw recently seemed to indicate the problem was several different computer systems that couldn’t talke to each other. That’s just an excuse, of course. Next year it will be something different. But knowing computers are involved, it probably will require more than just some paper pushing. (Retirees don’t know anything about computers, you know.)
You could be right about dueling computers but there’s a recent newsphoto sticks in my head. Big room at VA with row upon row of manila folders waiting and waiting.
Ugh. Any literate person could read those files and move them along or log them or do whatever is required. And you don’t have to be a computer genius to sit in front of a keyboard and enter data, if that’s the holdup. You’re right; retirees could help a lot.
In the full flush of patriotic fervor I believe the media and the country are missing an important aspect of this problem. Disability ain’t what it used to be, and especially not like the case that Ima mentions wherein it wasn’t even disability pay they were looking for, merely a one-time “bonus” that the country had promised WW I veterans and who desperately needed it to keep from starving during the Great Depression.
Nowadays, thanks mainly to definitions that were changed in the 1980’s by unanimous act (both parties) of the House, disability includes things that can’t be diagnosed, like back pain, and things very hard to diagnose, like PTSD. Consequently, the number of claims has exploded, driven by the lure of very significant financial advantages. This surge of populist resentment is in my opinion going to have a very hurtful on both our country's culture and on its finances. And the problem isn't only for the military, it is bringing a very bad sea-change to the population at large as well. Please check out this fascinating and disturbing story I found recently on an NPR pod-cast.
Unfortunately there will always be those among us who would rather be slackers and goldbricks, who want (and even expect) something for nothing. (Look at how overburdened our courts are with lawsuits.) In addition, definitions and diagnoses of medical conditions are constantly changing and often result in more “disabilities” than we used to have. You make a good point. Still, we must try much harder to quickly compensate truly deserving veterans. It’s only right.
Absolutely no excuse for this. Thanks for the link-up.
You’re welcome.