War is temporary but veterans are lifelong commitment

War is temporary but veterans are lifelong commitment
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 13, 2013

With the government shutdown it is a good time to think of what is supposed to happen in less than a month from today. November 11th is Veterans Day. A day we as a nation are supposed to honor our veterans and remember their sacrifices.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs there were 22,328,000 veterans as of September 2012. There were 3.61 million veterans receiving disability compensation plus another 725,165 claims filed waiting approval. Of those, 418,711 are considered "backlog" because they have taken too long to decide at over 125 days.

While reporters seem to focus on the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans waiting for the VA to honor their commitment to them, the truth is, there are veterans waiting even longer.

Post-9/11 (Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) claims make up 21% of the total inventory and 22% of the backlog
Gulf War (definition) claims make up 23% of the total inventory and 21% of the backlog
Peacetime (period between end of Vietnam and Gulf War) claims make up 11% of the total inventory and 11% of the backlog
Vietnam claims make up 37% of the total inventory and 38% of the backlog
Korean War claims make 4% of the total inventory and 4% of the backlog
World War II claims make up 3% of the total inventory and 3% of the backlog
Other era claims make up 1% of the total inventory and 1% of the backlog

Troop Levels in Afghanistan Since 2001 from the New York Times

In November of 2001 there were 1,300 troops sent to Afghanistan
By November of 2002 there were 9,500
2003 12,000
2004 15,800
2005 17,400
2006 20,400
2007 24,700
2008 30,853
2009 68,000


These are the numbers from the Congressional Research Office

Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001-FY2012: Cost and Other Potential Issues
Troops sent to Afghanistan
2002 5,200
2003 10,400
2004 15,200
2005 19,100
2006 20,400
2007 23,700
2008 30,100
2009 50,700
2010 63,500
2011 63,500
2012 63,500


Troops sent to Iraq
2003 67,000
2004 130,600
2005 143,800
2006 141,100
2007 148,300
2008 187,900
2009 135,600
2010 88,300
2011 42,800
2012 4,100


As you can see, the numbers do not match. The report from the Congress was published in 2009 so the rest were the guess numbers.

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, Who gave us the freedom to demonstrate
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag.
And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag."
Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Some reporters want to tell us that Afghanistan is the longest war, while officially that may be true, the real truth is, it isn't.

When: The Vietnam War began on November 1, 1955 and ended April 30, 1975. It lasted for 19 and 1/2 years.

The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956. His name was added to the Wall on Memorial Day 1999.

US Troop Deployments into Vietnam from the Heritage Foundation
1950 9
1951 74
1952 74
1953 138
1954 4,628
1955 427
1956 752
1957 751
1958 846
1959 819
1960 794
1961 959
1962 8,498
1963 15,620
1964 17,280
1965 129,611
1966 317,007
1967 451,752
1968 537,377
1969 510,054
1970 390,278
1971 212,925
1972 35,292
1973 265
1974 130


The last to die because of the Vietnam war were in 1975, 1974 1 and in 1975 62.

1975 was the year that the last 18 casualties (Daniel A. Benedett, Lynn Blessing, Walter Boyd, Gregory S. Copenhaver, Andres Garcia, Bernard Gause, Jr., Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove, James J. Jacques, Ashton N. Loney, Ronald J. Manning, Danny G. Marshall, James R. Maxwell, Richard W. Rivenburgh, Elwood E. Rumbaugh, Antonio Ramos Sandovall, Kelton R. Turner, Richard Vande Geer) occurred on May 15th during the recapture of the freighter MAYAGUEZ and its crew.

Their war Memorials were closed and now their disability checks may not come. The reports of the VA making progress in reducing their "inventory" of claims are now jeopardized along with payments for caregivers. Caregivers to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are covered but families of Gulf War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans, Korean War Veterans and WWII are not.

Caregivers, that is such a strange word when we are talking about veterans. Families, well that is a given that they care and many have given up careers to care for their wounded war fighters. Congress was supposed to care enough that they would honor their commitment to the wounded, orphans and widows of the fallen. They manage to get headlines when they write bills to prove how much they "care" but with each congress, veterans have seen history repeated while members of congress retreated from their obligation to those they sent into combat.

It isn't a matter of Republican or Democrat betraying this fundamental obligation. It has been going on no matter which party controls all of it.

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."
General Norman Schwarzkopf

The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are shocked by what has happened to this country because people can't work together for the sake of this nation they were willing to die in service to.

Isn't it time they were actually honored everyday? Isn't it time to end this national disgrace in Washington?

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."
President George Washington
American Veterans Memorial