Obama: No longer will veterans have to prove what caused their illness

Unlike some people in congress, others value our veterans and know that when they need to be taken care of because they risked their lives, there is nothing to debate. It's a debt we owe to them not the other way around. It is a bill the taxpayers were prepared to pay for the day the troops were sent into combat and we know no amount of money is too much to pay for what they gave up for us. Shame on any in congress who had no problem paying to send them away but find it too expensive to take care of them back home!

Obama: More post-traumatic stress help for vets

"I don't think our troops on the battlefield should have to take notes to keep for a claims application," the president said. "And I've met enough veterans to know that you don't have to engage in a firefight to endure the trauma of war."

By JULIE PACE, Associated Press Writer Julie Pace, Associated Press Writer – 11 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The government is taking what President Barack Obama calls "a long overdue step" to aid veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, making it easier for them receive federal benefits.

The changes that Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will announce Monday fulfill "a solemn responsibility to provide our veterans and wounded warriors with the care and benefits they've earned when they come home," Obama said in his weekly radio and online address Saturday.

The new rules will apply not only to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but also those who served in previous conflicts.

No longer will veterans have to prove what caused their illness. Instead, they would have to show that the conditions surrounding the time and place of their service could have contributed to their illness.


go here for more
Obama More post traumatic stress help for vets

Weekly remarks: Obama on more veterans benefits; Phil Gingrey on unaffordable federal deficits
July 10, 2010

Remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House
Last weekend, on the Fourth of July, Michelle and I welcomed some of our extraordinary military men and women and their families to the White House.

They were just like the thousands of active duty personnel and veterans I’ve met across this country and around the globe. Proud. Strong. Determined. Men and women with the courage to answer their country’s call, and the character to serve the United States of America.

Because of that service; because of the honor and heroism of our troops around the world; our people are safer, our nation is more secure, and we are poised to end our combat mission in Iraq by the end of August, completing a drawdown of more than 90,000 troops since last January.

Still, we are a nation at war. For the better part of a decade, our men and women in ...


... uniform have endured tour after tour in distant and dangerous places. Many have risked their lives. Many have given their lives. And as a grateful nation, humbled by their service, we can never honor these American heroes or their families enough.
read more of this here
Obama on more veterans benefits