 Vets Need To Stand By Their Own By FRANCES EARL Call to Patriots Published: Apr 30, 2008 The wounded and the dead from Iraq/Afghanistan have been, and continue to be, arriving back home in the dark of night. To see the coffins and the stretchers would make this “war” a reality for all of us, and this reality is something this administration fights with all the powers at its disposal.
To read about the death toll without seeing those coffins does not impact with most of us in the same way. The numbers reported of wounded have been seriously in question for quite some time now, with most who search for information convinced the numbers are much higher than what are being fed to our citizenry. What is really happening to our Afghanistan/Iraq vets who somehow make it back alive, perhaps missing sight or limbs, perhaps suffering from depression — post traumatic stress disorder? Let’s talk about “support the troops.”
Lt. Col. Billy Hall’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery held the press way back from the gravesite, out of earshot of the mourners and the eulogy. This was not at the request of his loved ones, but at the request of the Bush Administration. What were the reporters not supposed to hear?
Marine Todd Bowers owes his life to a rifle scope sent to him in Iraq by his father. That’s what the bullet intended to kill him hit before it wounded him. Bowers was recalled in 2004 for service in Iraq. Once he was home and his wounds had healed sufficiently, Todd applied through the G.I. Bill for money to further his education at George Washington University. A chance to further their education is one of the main reasons so many still volunteer for the armed services, in spite of the fact they realize they will probably be sent in harms way. What he found, to his dismay, was that he would receive only $400 per month, which amounted to paying for his books, and he found himself $20,000 in debt and had to drop out. He now struggles to pay off this debt and his promised education benefits are being denied.
After World War II, 800,000 vets went to college under FDR’s “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act,” which paid for tuition, fees, books and a living stipend while in school. The G.I. Bill 2008, being proposed in Congress, would demand the reinstatement and deliverance of these benefits our valiant troops have been promised. Noticeably missing from those sponsoring this bill is Sen. John McCain. And the Bush Administration heartily opposes it.
Supporting the troops?
As for medical care for our wounded, too many of our brave vets are waiting an estimated 183 days for responses to their claims for care. In many cases, traumatic stress syndrome is being denied or downplayed and the result of that is the following: From 2001-05, there were 283 suicides in our military. In 2005, the number jumped to 6,200 with about 12,000 “attempts” — about 1,000 per month on average. A memo was made public wherein Dr. Ira Katz, head of the Veteran’s Administration said: “Ssh! Should we address this before someone stumbles on it?”
Are we devaluing human life? With the economy in tatters and the cupboard bare, Bush and the boys insist on making tax givebacks to the wealthy and corporations permanent which leaves no money to care for our soldiers? How totally amoral!
For all our local vets who have stepped up to receive medals from U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, why have none of you questioned her continued support of all things Bush? Do you not view the troops suffering now as your brothers and sisters? Why are they being denied the care, the education that you were given?
When Brown-Waite ran for election in 2006, she claimed publicly that she had “evolved” on her support of the “war.” She returned to Congress and, apparently, “evolved” once more, continuing to follow and support the continuation of this act of aggression. She bragged recently on adding more beds to the local VA hospital, but I found no mention of her insisting on more personnel to serve those additional beds. Translation: Even less care for the patients in the pre-existing beds as well as the newly added ones, with personnel stretched perhaps to the breaking point.
Last year, you hardly heard Brown-Waite’s name, but now in an election year, there she is out passing out those medals again to our older vets who seem to step up with a smile to accept without realizing that they may be acting in a way that allows her to cast her votes and go unnoticed as not supporting our troops at all.
It has been said by someone that I am emptying a “trash can,” and I agree that is what I am attempting to do. Trouble is, the garbage being exposed is not mine, but belongs to a corrupt administration that has negated all but the supposed “elite” and is causing the suffering of our troops, of all those losing their homes, preventing medical care for all, trying valiantly to destroy education, Social Security and Medicare et al.
To all our older vets, please stand up and fight for your fellow vets now arriving home to a life changed forever. Get rid of the phony “supporters” of our troops and stand with your own.
Frances Earl, a former vice president of the Hernando County Democratic Executive Committee, can be contacted at fearl@tampabay.rr.com. |
