If you are not a regular reader, then please stay with me here a second. Before you watch these clips from 60 minutes, you need to think about something.
When they talk about a million claims, when they talk about 4 years to have a claim honored, they are not just talking about a claim. They are talking about a serviceman or woman, wounded because they served this country. They are talking about someone willing to give up their life if they had to, but managed to make it back home with wounds. They are also talking about this same man or woman, coming home with no income in the case they are unable to work or hold down a job because of their injuries. Usually the kind of injury we're talking about is PTSD. With this, they also see their family shatter under the weight of all the stress of a husband/wife with PTSD, their symptoms, unable to work because of those symptoms, and then they are left to wonder if they would have been better off dying in combat than surviving it.
After the Vietnam war, it seemed no one really cared about the veterans. We had some kind of twisted excuse to not pay attention back then. But this, this time it happened while we were watching and supposedly paying attention. It all happened since 9-11 when it just kept getting worse for our veterans at the same time they heard every political hack on TV and radio squawk about how much they cared but never once bothered to let the general public know what was going on.
Paul Sullivan is a hero to many veterans. He has been trying to get this right for the veterans since he left the VA. Isn't it time you decided to do the same for our veterans? I don't mean quit your day job but you can get involved my calling your congressman's office and letting them know, this will not be allowed to go on. Write letters to your local newspaper and send me a copy. I'll be happy to post it up for you. There is much you can do and much that has to be done but remember, they never once made us wait for them.
"We owe a debt to all who served and when we repay that debt to those bravest Americans among us, then we are investing in our future."
~ Barack Obama, August 3, 2009
VCS on "60 Minutes" Exposing Long Delays Veterans Face with VA Claims
Written by Byron Pitts
Sunday, 03 January 2010 20:41
Why The VA Frustrates Veterans: Two Wars Are Slowing The Large Bureaucracy, Delaying Benefits
January 3, 2010 (CBS News "60 Minutes") - There is a sacred tradition in the military: leave no one behind on the battlefield. But many veterans are beginning to believe their country has left them behind at home, once they're out of uniform and in need of help. That help is supposed to come from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the financial compensation it gives to veterans disabled by their military service.
It was Abraham Lincoln who said the purpose of the VA was to "care for him who shall have borne the battle." But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have pushed the VA further behind in that mission, and today there are a million veterans waiting for the VA to handle their disability claims.
That has led some to latch onto another motto making the rounds for how the VA operates: "Delay, Deny and Hope That I Die."
Extra: Watch extented segment posted at CBS News featuring Veterans for Common Sense
Extra: Read how VA tried to launch a pre-emptive strike against "60 Minutes" and VCS at VAWatchDog.org
"When I hear that, I will tell you that it really troubles me. As somebody who has devoted 35 years of my life to this organization, and to serving veterans, it's extremely troubling that there are veterans who feel that way," the VA's Deputy Undersecretary for Benefits Michael Walcoff, told 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitts.
read more of this here
Exposing Long Delays Veterans Face with VA Claims
Web Extra: A Four Year Wait?
January 3, 2010 5:30 PM
Paul Sullivan is executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, an advocacy group that works on behalf of veterans' issues.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
Veterans' Benefit FrustrationsJanuary 3, 2010 5:30 PM
Two wars and a recession have significantly increased the claims handled by the U.S. Dept. of Veteran's Affairs, slowing the large bureaucracy and frustrating many veterans. Byron Pitts reports.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
CBS) There is a sacred tradition in the military: leave no one behind on the battlefield. But many veterans are beginning to believe their country has left them behind at home, once they're out of uniform and in need of help. That help is supposed to come from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the financial compensation it gives to veterans disabled by their military service.
It was Abraham Lincoln who said the purpose of the VA was to "care for him who shall have borne the battle." But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have pushed the VA further behind in that mission, and today there are a million veterans waiting for the VA to handle their disability claims.
That has led some to latch onto another motto making the rounds for how the VA operates: "Delay, Deny and Hope That I Die."
"When I hear that, I will tell you that it really troubles me. As somebody who has devoted 35 years of my life to this organization, and to serving veterans, it's extremely troubling that there are veterans who feel that way," the VA's Deputy Undersecretary for Benefits Michael Walcoff, told 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitts.
read more here
Veterans Benefit Frustrations
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