We Send Them to War Then Refuse to Care?

When Do We Step Up for Vietnam Veterans?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 7, 2015

Ok, I am officially pissed off and only on my second cup of coffee.

Why are Vietnam veterans still fighting for what their service to us did to them? Any clue? Why should any veteran have to fight for what they need in return from us when they come back from where we sent them?

You may be sitting there thinking "I didn't send them" but you did. You did when the people elected to office won their seats and got to decide what happens. Just because the person you voted for lost or you didn't even bother to show up, you are still responsible as an American citizen.

They are still fighting for treatment and compensation for what Agent Orange did to them.

Vietnam vet fights VA for cancer/heart treatment In 1968, Patrick Sam was 19 years old, and he signed up with the 101st Airborne Infantry serving in the A Shau valley of Vietnam. A picture of the war moved him to volunteer.

Why? Why aren't we talking about all these years politicians made so many speeches about taking care of them?

Why haven't reporters asked them to account for this disgraceful disrespect of their service?

Politicians made them go! All of them did not willingly step up saying "send me" to fight in Vietnam. Do you remember that until the end of the Vietnam war they were still forcing men 18 and over into military service with the draft?

Most did step up expecting that if they made it home wounded, they believed they would receive the benefits they were promised. They expected this country would have cared they were willing to put their lives on the line.

What they didn't expect or deserve, was being treated like trash by the public and regarded as welfare recipients from the politicians refusing to take care of their needs caused by service.

Well, what we're seeing today is directly tied to what we didn't do back when they came home.

On the flip side, what we're seeing on Combat PTSD is all directly tied to them. They fought for all of it. 

Every other generation came home with the same trauma, the same wounds, the same suffering as they did but they put their time in fighting for all generations including the ones who came after them.

A friend of mine was telling me about a Gulf War veteran who received no help for combat wounds in his body and in his mind.

He managed to trust her enough to talk to her about what was going on all these years. She knew the basics of PTSD and was able to just listen to what he had to say, what he was willing to share.

They got to the point where he trusted her so when he was at the point where he wanted to get help from the VA, she took him.

The VA employee was ready to send him home instead of putting him in to see someone while he was in crisis. She hit the roof! She told the employee that they were not about to leave and he had to be seen right then and there. They were willing to wait for as long as it would take for someone to fit him in.

The employee thought about it, must have realized how serious his condition was, and he got him in to see a psychologist and then a doctor.

All this reminded me of when we faced the same thing back in the early 90's. I could feel my blood pressure go up as my friend told me what happened.

All these years later, the same thing is going on but no one really seems to be willing to step up and fight for them.

I know the price paid after their service but I have no clue what it is like to serve. However, I do value them enough to know they are worth fighting for.

Why don't you?

Are you willing to settle for politicians creating different classes of veterans as if older veterans don't matter as much as the newer ones?

If that is the case then where will you be when we have other wars and we didn't take care of the ones we already had?