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Friday, February 5, 2010

Vets face blizzard of red tape, group says

The problems veterans face coming home are not new. None of them should ever be forced to fight for what they've already paid for. They paid in full the day they took their oath to serve this country.

If you have never been in a VA hospital, never had anyone you know serving or had served, then you are missing out on some of the finest people in this country. There is something outstanding about all of them (except for the very few fakes thinking they could take what they never earned.) The key word is "earned" and that is the part we seem to have the hardest time getting thru to them.

Most are reluctant to ask the government for help. They want to stand on their own two feet and are determined to do it on their own. Others, want nothing to do with the government after risking their lives for it and seeing what happens with the lack of everything they need to carry out the missions. What they want and what they need usually end up totally out of whack.

When they do decide to seek help at their VA for physical wounds, invisible wounds, benefits they were promised, then discover they have to fight for them on top of everything else, it leaves a bitter taste in their mouths and they wonder what their service was really worth.

Why should they have to wait or fight again? This is a question that has been asked since the beginning of this nation.
History - VA History

VA History

The United States has the most comprehensive system of assistance for veterans of any nation in the world. This benefits system traces its roots back to 1636, when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony were at war with the Pequot Indians. The Pilgrims passed a law which stated that disabled soldiers would be supported by the colony.

The Continental Congress of 1776 encouraged enlistments during the Revolutionary War by providing pensions for soldiers who were disabled. Direct medical and hospital care given to veterans in the early days of the Republic was provided by the individual States and communities. In 1811, the first domiciliary and medical facility for veterans was authorized by the Federal Government. In the 19th century, the Nation's veterans assistance program was expanded to include benefits and pensions not only for veterans, but also their widows and dependents.

After the Civil War, many State veterans homes were established. Since domiciliary care was available at all State veterans homes, incidental medical and hospital treatment was provided for all injuries and diseases, whether or not of service origin. Indigent and disabled veterans of the Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, and Mexican Border period as well as discharged regular members f the Armed Forces were cared for at these homes.

Congress established a new system of veterans benefits when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Included were programs for disability compensation, insurance for servicepersons and veterans, and vocational rehabilitation for the disabled. By the 1920s, the various benefits were administered by three different Federal agencies: the Veterans Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

The establishment of the Veterans Administration came in 1930 when Congress authorized the President to "consolidate and coordinate Government activities affecting war veterans." The three component agencies became bureaus within the Veterans Administration. Brigadier General Frank T. Hines, who directed the Veterans Bureau for seven years, was named as the first Administrator of Veterans Affairs, a job he held until 1945.

The VA health care system has grown from 54 hospitals in 1930, to include 171 medical centers; more than 350 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 domiciliaries. VA health care facilities provide a broad spectrum of medical, surgical, and rehabilitative care. The responsibilities and benefits programs of the Veterans Administration grew enormously during the following six decades. World War II resulted in not only a vast increase in the veteran population, but also in large number of new benefits enacted by the Congress for veterans of the war. The World War II GI Bill, signed into law on June 22, 1944, is said to have had more impact on the American way of life than any law since the Homestead Act more than a century ago. Further educational assistance acts were passed for the benefit of veterans of the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam Era, Persian Gulf War, and the All-Volunteer Force.

read more here
http://www4.va.gov/about_va/vahistory.asp


When you think about how long this nation has had to get it right, taking care of our veterans should have been perfected by now.


Vets face blizzard of red tape, group says

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 5, 2010 6:28:04 EST

Combat veterans returning to the U.S. often find themselves facing a new, complex and frustrating enemy: red tape.

That is the assessment of a new report released Friday by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Here are some examples of the problems faced by veterans:

• Drew Brown, an Iraq veteran who returned from a 2004 deployment struggling with anxiety and depression, says he asked the military five times over 16 months for mental health counseling before he got a call back. When he tried to get help from the Veterans Affairs Department, he says he was told it would take three weeks to schedule an appointment — which could only be at a far-off location between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m, requiring the former Army sergeant first class to take time off work.

• Air Force veteran Aimee Sherrod, medically retired in 2005 as a result of post-traumatic stress related to a mortar attack on her unit on her second day in Iraq in 2003, received a 10 percent disability rating that she accepted because she thought she would get better. But when she got worse in 2008 during a pregnancy, she discovered that a VA hospital would not admit her as an inpatient because they weren’t prepared for maternity care. Instead, they told her to drop out of school and relax.

• Navy veteran Richard Sanchez, a veteran of Operations Enduring Freedom, Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom, left the service in 2006 on disability with a recommendation for back surgery for treatment of injuries suffered when heavy equipment fell on him. It took three years for VA to schedule the surgery, about the same amount of time he has been struggling with a disability claim related to post-traumatic stress.

• Army veteran Matthew Hamilton, who did two tours in Iraq, is one of about 1,500 student veterans still waiting to receive their fall GI Bill payments. “My claim has been with the VA over 200 days,” said the graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “They have acknowledged they have all the information needed by cannot give me a reason why it has not been processed,” he said, calling it a “nightmare.”
read more here
Vets face blizzard of red tape, group says

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