Older veterans pushed aside for new veterans

Old and in the Way

As the “new vets” from Iraq and Afghanistan, just 2% of the veteran population, are given priority at the VA, the other 98% find themselves pushed to the rear of the line, now the forgotten of previous conflicts.

by Larry Scott



Bosnia, Somalia, the Gulf, Grenada, Vietnam, Korea, World War II, plus all the Cold War and peacetime veterans in between. Add them all up and you have about 23.5 million veterans, 98% of the U.S. veteran population. Add them all up and you have the veterans that are being pushed to the rear of the line by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA).

On April 24, 2008, the VA made a stunning announcement. They are going to set up a special call center to notify all 570,000 “new vets,” veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, of all available VA benefits. On the surface this appears to be a noble gesture. But, in the past, the VA has vigorously fought legislation that would have required them to notify ALL veterans of these benefits. Why? Too expensive, they claimed.

So, why the change and why now? And, why does this just apply to the “new vets,” those who make up just 2% of the veteran population? The VA has a history of denying that problems exist, then using quick-fix Band-Aids to make it appear that the problem has been solved. We find the VA short-staffed, especially in the area of mental health workers. So, they hire a few mental health specialists, many of them short-term contract workers, and consider the problem fixed. There is a backlog of 600,000 disability claims, so the VA hires a few more claims raters, and considers the problem fixed. Neither of the afore-mentioned Band-Aids addresses the long-term problems of mental health care or the claims backlog because not enough workers were hired to adequately solve either problem.
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http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAPR08/nf042808-1.htm

He's right. It happened to my husband until on of his doctors said that he couldn't wait to see him for three months in between appointments. He's not the only one this is happening to.