Media coverage of VA backlog ignores history of it

There are two quotes that need to be read about the VA Claims backlog

"The number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year. In testimony two weeks ago before a House committee, VA officials said the current 162 days is 17 days less than one year ago, a sign that they are beginning to make process."

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,”

Sounds really troubling considering the troops had been in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq since 2003. The worst part is those quotes are not new. They came in testimony in June of 2009.

Do reporters remind anyone of what was going on before? Do they bother to correct anything so that the harm done to our veterans is not repeated? No, this is more of the political games being played across the country within the big media outlets.

If you think they really care, you'd be wrong. If they really cared, they would not drop the stories according to the political wind.

In 2001 there was a backlog of claims but no one thought to gear up the VA to take care of the veterans waiting for care even though experts warned the newer veterans could in fact crash the VA. No one in our government really cared and yes, that includes some members of congress.

If reporters stayed on the story back then the American public would have demanded action to take care of all our veterans, but they didn't and now they want to pretend all of this just happened overnight.

Veterans Administration backed up, falls under criticism from returning soldiers 
Across the country, members of the military returning to civilian life after fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are enduring enormous delays to have their initial disability claims adjudicated by the Veterans Administration.
BY JAMES WARREN AND CHRISTINA BOYLE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

After two tours of duty with the Marines in Iraq, Anthony Pike returned home to Brooklyn with hearing loss, a ringing in his ears and profound stress.

Now there’s the galling, added stress he’s enduring in trying to get help from the New York office of the Veterans Administration.

“We executed our missions every day and met our objections. Then I come home and the VA, the one place I think I can go for help, doesn’t,” he said. “It’s devastating.”

Across the country, members of the military returning to civilian life after fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are enduring enormous delays to have their initial disability claims adjudicated by the Veterans Administration.

And the wait in New York City is longer than just about everywhere else — an average of 642 days, twice the national average of 320 days. It is exceeded only by the wait in Reno, Nev., where it is 680 days.

In a rare act of bipartisanship, 67 senators recently wrote President Obama and implored him to “take direct action and involvement in ending” the sky-high backlog that has grown to 600,000 cases nationwide.
read more here

Most of the claims in the backlog are Vietnam veterans and they have waited for far too long to receive the care they were promised. Part of the backlog comes from the change in rules to file claims for PTSD and Agent Orange. If they do not tell the truth on a subject this serious, what else aren't they telling the truth about?

Read THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR and know how it got this bad since all the reports came from the news stories they don't want you to remember.