Congress blaming the VA is like horse blaming the ground

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 22, 2014

You should get some Imodium before reading this. It has got to be the biggest load of crap I've ever heard! It comes from MedPageToday titled "Senate to VA: Save Our Suicidal Veterans" as if Congress had absolutely nothing to do with the processions of needlessly filled coffins for the last 40 years. Doesn't everyone get it is the job of our elected officials to actually earn their pay and benefits?

For Congress to blame the VA it is like a horse blaming the ground for the mess it left behind.

The list of members of the House and the Senate sitting on the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Committees are responsible for all of this clusterfuck!

Sorry but I read a long time ago that profanity was a great stress relief and in the words of Ouiser Boudreaux "I'm not crazy, I've just been in a very bad mood for the last 40 years!" but in my case, it has just been 30+ years.

One More Hearing

On Wednesday, the Committee on Veterans Affairs questioned directors of mental health and suicide prevention services at the VA about efforts to improve the quality and timeliness of mental health care.

During the hearing, senators criticized the VA for long wait times, limited access to mental health resources, and poor tracking of returning soldiers, particularly those diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Burr said VA officials had earlier told the Senate of its efforts to provide evidence-based care, but Burr said a review of VA outcomes raised serious questions about the validity of such care.

He cited an American Legion survey of around 3,100 veterans, the majority of whom felt that their symptoms were either not improving or worsening after psychotherapy or medication that was prescribe by the VA.

"If more than half of our nation's veterans don't think they're getting better, I believe the focus on whether evidence-based treatment is provided might be misguided."

They can have all the hearings they want but that in no way, shape or form, indicates they are actually listening or even understanding what people have been telling them for decades.

This was followed by even more bullshit!

More Problems Than Solutions

Kudler described a joint suicide data repository developed by the VA and the Department of Defense to track patterns of suicide among veterans and service members. He said that data could be used to identify and replicate the most effective suicide prevention programs.

Ritchie added, "If you come from working at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay or the detainment facilities in Bagram you don't necessarily get a whole lot of pats on the back, and we need to recognize that type of service as well."

Vincent Vanata, a retired master sergeant with the U.S. Marine Corps and Combat Stress Recover Program participant with the Wounded Warrior Project from Cody, Wyo., said the VA's problem is a lack of outreach. "From my perspective the VA is not engaging with these returning veterans and letting them know what's available," he said.

If they don't actually understand what the fuck has been happening any more than they get how long it has been going on, then they need to decline the invitation to sit in the chair!

The problem is not lack of outreach. It is lack of getting what they needed to be prepared for the increase in wounded/disabled when troops were sent into Afghanistan and Iraq while there was already a waiting line at the VA of Gulf War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans, Korean War Veterans, WWII Veterans and remaining WWI Veterans! You know, the veterans sent into combat without the VA being ready for them either.

How do I know about the long lines? I saw it first hand with my Dad, a 100% disabled veteran and my husband another 100% disabled veteran. In other words, I spent my life witnessing what veterans had to go through to have their claims approved as well as really great care once they did from fantastic employees for the most part. Most of the time I was scratching my head wondering why all veterans didn't get what they needed or why things weren't ready for them when they needed it. My Dad had to go to the DAV for help with his claim in the 70's and so did my husband in the 90's. We had to fight for 6 years before it was approved making sure we met all the deadlines.

The House Veterans Affairs Committee put their behinds in the chair in 1946.

Legislation Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
Veterans' measures generally.
Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.
Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.
Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.
Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.
Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.
Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.
National Cemeteries.
Complete Jurisdiction of the Committee

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has been holding hearings as well as the House.

The Veterans' Affairs committee was created in 1970 to transfer responsibilities for veterans from the Finance and Labor committees to a single panel. From 1947 to 1970, matters relating to veterans compensation and veterans generally were referred to the Committee on Finance, while matters relating to the vocational rehabilitation, education, medical care, civil relief, and civilian readjustment of veterans were referred to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare.

To this day there have been members of Congress using the term of "public welfare" as a way of cutting the VA budgets and not having to acknowledge that in the case of veterans, they paid for it when they signed over the blank check up to and including their lives.

They got away with it because we have reporters with the national media more interested in the headline than the history behind it. I don't talk to them anymore when they call to make their lives easier. They never understand there is a long history of politicians getting away with pretending they care when the results prove they don't have the slightest interest in fixing anything.

Veterans groups have a totally different conversation going on than the public does because we don't rely on the press to tell us anything. We live it! We lament over funerals while they play political games pitting one group against another. Veterans risked their lives for each other no matter what party they belonged to so if one of them has been betrayed, they all feel it.

Civilians talk about celebrity news and reality TV shows. We talk about heroes and the reality of living as a veteran every day of the year while they turn Veterans Day into a pre-Christmas sales day. They don't understand that they actually sold out veterans a long time ago.

Unless they know someone in the military they can't even show up for the parade unless it happens to be covered on TV like in New York.

"That they receive the recognition and support they so richly deserve on this 95th anniversary of the Veterans Day Parade."

The VA has had problems for decades but no one in any of the congresses fixed the problems. They just spent money without knowing what was needed, what would work and then turned around awarding money to repeat the same mistakes. Year after year, family members sat in front of them telling their heartbreaking stories and year after year, they were followed by more and more families telling the same stories over and over again. Nothing has been fixed.

We have less than 4 million veterans compensated for disabilities yet more deserve it. They don't for help simply because they have heard all the horror stories and battles they have to fight to get what they earned fighting for the country while in their uniforms. First the DOD failed them then the VA was blamed for failing but the fault belonged to members of congress with the responsibility to ensure both lived up to their promises.

Watch the parade. Hear the words. Hear them talking about the new groups as if they were the only generation fighting for what they need. Millions a year collected to do what the DOD and the VA have been delivering for decades to all veterans and other groups fighting for all veterans equally because they know how long all of this have been going on. Veterans didn't fight for themselves in combat and they fight for each other afterwards.

While the OEF and OIF veterans get the attention of the press, older veterans have suffered longer waiting for the same care and attention the new veterans receive. Why? Why the hell should one group matter while other groups don't anymore?

Who decided to forget about Gulf War Veterans? Who decided to forget about Vietnam Veterans? Who decided to forget about Korean War, WWII and the lesser publicized battles fought by the men and women who came before?

Most of the established groups have been fighting for decades while they told members of congress exactly what was going on yet over and over again members of congress decided they had other placers to be so they walked out of the hearings that got them attention. Watch CSPAN videos and you'll see empty chairs.

We see them get up and leave. We see empty chairs at our tables when our veterans get up and leave their lives before they had to. We see the tears, trembling bodies and screams in the night. We see the hope vanish from their days as one day gets harder than easier. When one day it is harder to stay alive here than it was to fight the battles on foreign lands.

If you think losing more after combat than during it is a new thing, then think again because the majority of the veteran suicides are 50 and over.

We didn't get it right for them and we won't get it right for the newer veterans getting the attention today because Congress didn't get it right yesterday.