Vietnam Veteran Puts Up Protest Billboard "VA Is Lying, Veterans Are Dying"

Angry billboard brings national VA protest to Haley center
Tampa Tribune
Howard Altman
August 31, 2015

The billboard is on the 1200 block of East Fowler Avenue near the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa. SALLY MULCARE

A national group of veterans and their families, upset with the Department of Veterans Affairs, has brought its protest to Tampa — in the form of a message on an electronic billboard on the 1200 block of East Fowler Avenue near the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital.

“VA is Lying, Veterans Are Dying,” reads the message, sponsored by a Facebook group called “VA is Lying,” launched by a Vietnam War veteran from Indiana.

“I started the Facebook group about two years ago because I was angry at the VA,” Ron Nesler said.

Nesler said he was upset, in part, about the treatment of his step-daughter, whose biological father is a Marine exposed to Agent Orange when he served in Vietnam. The exposure led to severe birth defects in the child and Nesler said his anger has been stoked by the VA’s poor response to a federal law mandating treatment for children of veterans exposed to the defoliant.

The VA’s actions on the matter have been “unconscionable,” said Rick Weidman, executive director for policy and government affairs for the Vietnam Veterans of America, a veteran service organization that has helped Nesler fight for benefits for his stepdaughter.
read more here