Veterans Protested at LA VA After Death of Suicidal Marine

This is an excellent piece on the Boston Globe with many reminders of what has been going on. The picture in the article is stunning. It is about a group of Vietnam Veterans protesting at the LA VA over the deplorable treatment and suicide of a Marine. It was in 1981! That is a shock to some considering the battle for their lives after war is in fact the longest war these men and women have had to fight.

The VA: Trouble from the start
Created to save money, the agency has only ended up illuminating the human cost of war
Boston Globe
By Beth Linker
SEPTEMBER 07, 2014

"The cost of military engagement is inseparable from the long, slow, and massively expensive process of helping those who suffer battle wounds. For a nation that prides itself on military preparedness, frank and honest discussions about the aftermath of war are in short supply."

NICK UT/ASSOCIATED PRESS/1981
At Wadsworth VA Hospital in West Los Angeles in 1981, Vietnam veterans camped out after the suicide of a disabled Marine who had rammed the front door with a Jeep and sprayed gunfire to protest lack of treatment.

THIS SUMMER’S revelations about the Veterans Administration have tarnished the image of a cherished national institution. One of the nation’s largest health care systems, the VA provides a lifetime of medical services at no personal expense to military veterans. But recent events suggest the system is broken. Reports from Phoenix exposed an organization rife with negligence and mismanagement, where sick veterans waited three months or more to be seen by a doctor, and administrators falsified these wait times to earn incentives for complying with timeliness mandates. Many have suffered from the latest VA debacle: ailing veterans in need of care, grieving family members who have reportedly lost loved ones because of delays; and Eric Shinseki, the four-star Army general who was forced to resign from his position as secretary of veterans affairs this past May.

Given the profound importance of veterans and their contributions, trouble at the VA is the rare issue that can move those on both sides of the political aisle. Appalled conservatives like Representative Jeff Miller have spoken out against the “selfish bureaucrats” and governmental bloat that are hurting veterans. The left and center-right seem to agree that the problem is resources: An unlikely combination of Senators Bernie Sanders and John McCain got a Senate emergency funding bill passed, with the goal of building additional facilities and hiring more doctors and nurses to meet ever increasing veteran demand on the system.
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