Patty Murray becomes voice of veterans care
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is personally acquaintanted with veterans-care issues. Her father was a disabled World War II vet and, in college, she served an internship in physical rehabilitation at the Seattle veterans hospital. Now she's a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Patty Murray becomes voice of veterans care
By Alicia Mundy
Seattle Times Washington bureau
In the summer of 1972, a 22-year-old Washington State University student named Patty Murray reported to the Seattle veterans hospital for an internship in physical rehabilitation.
She was assigned to the psychiatric ward on the seventh floor of the orange brick monolith on Beacon Hill.
"Every morning when I arrived, they locked me in with the patients," Murray recalled recently. "I heard the big doors close behind me."
Her charges were young men who had returned from Vietnam. As Murray exercised their arms and legs, they described buddies blown apart and children, mistaken for guerrillas, shot and killed. Some stared vacantly; others shouted in anger.
Murray saw some of these same patients slip through cracks in the veterans-care network, left jobless, homeless and unable to find help.
"We didn't have a name for what they were suffering," Murray said of what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Thirty-six years later, Murray is still working in rehab, trying to fix what's broken in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, she's become the leading voice for veteran care in Congress.
Veterans Affairs officials declined to comment about Murray's work on veterans issues, as did Republican leaders.
But other politicians and veterans say she has made quantifiable changes in the quality of life for veterans, both in Washington state and nationally.
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If you read this blog, or my other one, you know all about Patty Murray. It is no wonder why the Republicans don't want to talk about her. She has put all of them to shame.
We have a military veteran friend who was honorably discharged during the Vietnam era. He served in the US Navy while having dual citizenship (Canadian/US). He was born in Canada and his family moved to New York when he was a child and became dual Canadian and US Citizens.
ReplyDeleteAfter discharge my friend worked in the US for over 3 decades, paying US taxes and Social Security. When it came time to retire and apply for his pension he was informed that the US Department of Homeland Security had revoked his US citizenship and did not recognize his Canadian citizenship.
The Social Security Administration will not begin his pension payments until his citizenship issue is resolved. He has been trying to work this matter through the VA, his local representatives in government (congressional level) and directly through the Social Security Office. No one seems to know what to do, who should take action and who has responsibility. The DHS will not reply to his inquiries. Any ideas?
I will repost this because it is wrong. This keeps happening to our veterans. Until the media reports on what's going on, the people in charge are able to keep doing it. You would think that New York would care more about all veterans, but Vietnam veterans, as well as older veterans, have all but been forgotten.
ReplyDelete