Wounded Veterans Treated as an Afterthought and the world notices

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

This is the quote I use on all of my emails. Washington would have never imagined a day would come when the treatment of the veterans would be worse than what they were in his day. Back then the troops/patriots/volunteer/militia farmers took up arms in order to provide freedom for these lands yet were not supplied with enough food or clothing, or boots for the feet. It was pretty terrible the way they were treated added onto by their own countrymen wanting to kill them because the loyalists liked the way they lived under England's King George. Washington knew that if the veterans were not treated properly when they were willing to risk their lives for the sake of the country, the likelihood of generations to come being equally willing was pretty abysmal. After all, who wants to risk their life, survive wounded and then have to suffer the rest of their lives unable to support themselves and their families? Picture a patriot losing a limb returning to a farm trying to run it with while balancing on a crutch.

What Washington never thought about was the impression this nation would leave on the rest of the world with technology spreading news around the globe within minutes. Wouldn't he be disgusted knowing a book review like this showed up in Italy? Imagine this man, the first President of this nation, one so dedicated and appreciative of those who serve he created a medal so that low ranking patriots would feel someone cared about all they were willing to endure. He created the Purple Heart, which was an award of merit. This award was later taken over by the congress and offered to the wounded only. In Washington's time some of his men had to have their feet amputated because of frostbite but under the rules of congress and the view of some people that a wound is only considered when deliberately caused by the enemy, these men would receive nothing but a half price sale on shoes since they only needed one. A wound in Washington's eyes was anything that happened while they were serving under his command. Now that's a General! He was the kind of General that would not allow his men to go into battle while he stayed safely behind in an office but often went with them taking a place ahead of them.

So as we debate the worthiness of the Purple Heart being awarded to a wound caused by being terrorized by the traumatic events of combat (in other words what the enemy causes) the rest of the world waits to see what we will do for our own. They wait to see if we really honor them and treat them with the dignity and respect they earned just as they wait to see if we will take care of all of them. They wait and then read a book like this clearly proving the point that this government did not honor any of them by neglecting too many of them. It is no longer possible for this nation to hide the shame and humiliation we've brought on ourselves by not taking the wise advice of Washington to heart. (Pun intended)

BOOKS-US: Wounded Veterans Treated as an Afterthought
Inter Press Service - Rome,Italy

By Dahr Jamail

MARFA, Texas, Jan 16 (IPS) - "But the [George W.] Bush administration was never seriously interested in helping veterans. The sorry state of care for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans is not an accident. It's on purpose."

Journalist Aaron Glantz makes this stunning statement in his recently released book, "The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans" (UC Press).

And his controversial claim is backed up by an extremely well-researched overview of the dismal state of care provided by the government for this new generation of war veterans.

Glantz, an IPS correspondent who has been covering the U.S. occupation of Iraq for years, including several months of reportage from inside Iraq, provides a devastating overview of the plight of war veterans.

From reporting on Bush administration funding cuts to the Veterans Administration (VA), to how key Republican senators like John McCain consistently vote against veteran's benefits and supporting legislation, "The War Comes Home" makes the case.

Glantz documents what happens when veterans from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan return home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), their battles with the Pentagon and VA to obtain benefits, and the psychological, mental, and physical toll this is taking on the hundreds of thousands of veterans, making "The War Comes Home" a must read for anyone wanting a clear understanding of what these occupations are truly costing those in the military.

The story of Patrick Resta, an Iraq war veteran, brings the reader into the world of a returning veteran. Resta's wife Melissa tells Glantz that upon Patrick's return from Iraq, "Over the course of just two or three weeks, I started to notice that if I came into a room, he would just leave," she said, "If I said something to him, he would just snap. He didn't want to talk to me, he didn't want to talk to really anybody, and when I confronted him with us having problems I would get let into."

Patrick ended up going to the VA, where he was diagnosed with PTSD. By March 2008, Glantz points out, Patrick joined over 130,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans as having been diagnosed with a psychological illness by the VA's mental health services.

While he still suffers from his illness, Patrick has gone on to make progress with the help he deserved from the VA. His story is, however, a best-case scenario. click link above for more