"Any "moron" can see faking vets"

This is more proof I get way too much email. This one came from a friend after receiving it from a very long list of forwards. Most of the time when I get emails like this, I simply delete it with pleasure but after reading this one, I couldn't stop my blood pressure from boiling no matter how much I tried to calm my soul down.

Dear Lacy,

Thanks for the support. You might want to know that what you said
yesterday in this group was echoed today by another person in a news
article published in Illinois.

Yesterday you said the following: "Geeziz! Any moron can see that as
Vietnam vets get older the ones who are short on money are trying to
make up for lost wages by milking the VA for PTSD money. And any moron
can see that as the economy gets bad more and more of these thieves
are coming out of the cracks in the floor to rip off the VA. And when
they rip off the VA they steal money from the vets who really need and
deserve VA help."

The following article that I am sending the link to (below) was
published today by someone named Mary Schantag who is an archivist
with the P.O.W. Network. Schantag said: "2009 could finish as the
worst year for military fraud cases because of a failing economy that
has kept millions of people out of work."

Lacy, you can find the full article here:
Military archivist says 2009 could be worst for military fraudDaily Egyptian


You, me and others know well that a lot of criminal vets have been
getting PTSD money fraudulently. I have warned that these vets will
soon be facing prosecution and jail time. The smart ones will go
immediately to their nearest VA and end their bogus PTSD payments. But
the idiots will continue to rip off the VA until they find themselves
in jail.

You, me and others who fight corruption and theft from our truly
disabled vets will always be slandered and lied about by the criminals
who try to portray themselves as heroes and portray us as
anti-American. But the real, honest and intelligent vets will know
that we were right and what we are doing is in the best interest of
vets who are truly deserving of their benefits.

Read the Schantag article. It's as if she read your mind... or read
your piece in this group yesterday... but we all know that Schantag
simply see's -- just as you and I see -- what is going on in our VA
offices everyday of the week.

Ed

Ed and Lacy are correct. Any "moron" can see all of what they see because it requires uninformed morons to see what they see. These are the same type of people that denied PTSD was real while veterans were coming back from every war since the beginning of time and ended up taking their own lives, seeing their families fall apart as hope of healing slips through their grasp. When the term used to describe this devastating wound was changed to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, this type of moron blamed the veteran, called them fakes, said they were trying to suck off the system, looking for a free ride, and when none of that worked, they turned around and called them drug addicts and alcoholic lowlifes.

People like Ed and Lacy were standing in the way while Vietnam veterans saw what was wrong, saw what happened to them and all combat veterans before them, had to endure and ended up saying "enough" suffering in silence. They raised holy hell with the government until PTSD was recognized and compensated for, not just for them but for all generations to come after them. It's one of the biggest reasons I say the Vietnam veterans are the greatest generation. The didn't just decide to take care of themselves but adopted the slogan, “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”

In 1982 when I started all of this with veterans, it always amazed me how people could be so uninformed about history. When the Gulf War came, as yellow ribbon stickers showed up on every business, flags flew from doorways and parades welcomed them home, I wondered how fast the appreciation would end and ambivalence would resume. Back then we had our own problems with the economy and then President Bush 41 showing up on our TV sets telling us there was "no recession" and the economy was fine. Much like we've had over the last few years with two military campaigns going on. As fast as the yellow ribbon stickers were pealed off the windows, Gulf war veterans were looking for jobs and trying to figure out why so many of them were sick. America, well, we didn't pay attention any more than we paid attention to the illnesses caused by Agent Orange with Vietnam veterans. Once wars end, we tend to what to hear no more about any of it. At the same time Gulf War veterans were seeking help and compensation for Gulf War Syndrome, Vietnam veterans were still fighting to have the illnesses connected to Agent Orange, but they also took on the cause of the Gulf War veterans simultaneously fighting for PTSD to be understood.

Older veterans, well they understood what the Vietnam veterans dared to talk about and fight for. After all, they had it too. The difference was the older generations came home and suffered in silence, getting jobs, married and raising kids while hell took control over their household, families suffered secondary PTSD living with all the traumatic events caused by untreated PTSD and the delusion of self-medications not "hurting anyone else" as a piece of them died everyday. They sent their sons off to Vietnam and when they returned changed, these same combat veterans told their kids to "suck it up" and "get over it" the way they did. That was the biggest problem of all. None of the Vietnam veterans wanted to "get over it" the way their fathers did because they knew too well what that kind of getting over it did to their families. While older veterans were slamming doors shut to these "not even real veterans" the Vietnam veterans dug in their heals and said, never again. They embraced the same veterans that turned their backs on them. Then they reached back to make sure the veterans or WWI, WWII, and Korea were treated with the dignity they deserved and their wounds taken care of instead of being accepted as their inability to "get over it" after their combat ended.

After all these years of fighting people like Ed and Lacy, I've stopped tying to get them to understand how very real PTSD or the fact that too many of our veterans never seek help because they've heard words like Ed's and Lacy's too many times before. While advocates fight to bring honor to the honorable, Ed and Lacy's tiny fraction of the American population have been fighting to keep them away from being treated and compensated for what came home with them. You'd think they would have the ability to learn that we continue to lose more after combat than we do during combat to PTSD and suicides, but then you'd also have to managed somehow to think they have the ability to learn anything. I've stopped trying and simply regard these people as "morons" unable to see anything no matter how much proof is offered.

Usually people like them are not worth the time it takes to type on the keyboard. I'd rather spend my time helping the veterans people like them want to dishonor. I would really like to see the people denying PTSD is real spend one day living with a PTSD veteran, or the family of one that took their own life because the help they needed to heal was nowhere to be found. They won't because they are too afraid to face the truth and fully understand all these years they've not only been wrong, they may have added to the suffering.

These people remind me of St. Paul. He was not always named Paul but came into the world as Saul. He was privileged and considered himself devoted to God. After Christ was crucified, Saul decided that it was his job to hunt down Christians and turn them over for execution. He was convinced he was right and doing the right thing for the right reason. He was so proud of himself every time he found a Christian and got rid of one more until he was traveling to Damascus. He heard a voice call down from heaven asking why he was persecuting "me" and the voice turned out to be that of Christ Himself. It was at that moment, this pride filled, deluded fool, understood that all he had done was not only wrong but done for the wrong reason and people suffered because of what he had in his own brain. It would change his life forever after that but he would have to live with the memories of all he did to other people instead of helping other people.

It would be a wonderful sight to behold when people like Ed and Lacy have their Damascus moment after denying the suffering of millions of our veterans, but it will be too late for too many. People like them, along with the military brass still denying the reality of PTSD are the morons now but they are just too incapable of opening their own eyes. The only fools in this are the people lacking knowledge along with compassion for others. It will be very hard on them when after all their efforts slamming veterans turns out to be years of people laughing at them they were just too ignorant to notice.

My husband is just one Vietnam veteran that would still stop to help people like Ed and Lacy if they were in trouble no matter what they say. It's just the way they are. This email I read was not worth the time it took to read it, but responding was because the veterans are worthy of every second I spend fighting for them.