Other than honorable way to treat combat wounded, Army kicks them out

As deplorable as this is, it also shows how the Army gets rid of soldiers instead of helping them. Ever think about the high number of suicides of the active duty forces being much higher than reported? This very well may be how the number of suicides connected to their service go uncounted. If the DOD kicks them out, the VA won't take them either. This is the ultimate betrayal!

Report: Combat troop discharges increase sharply
San Francisco Gate
Sunday, May 19, 2013

This Dec. 19, 2012 photo shows wounded Army veteran Kash Alvaro recovering in the emergency room at Memorial Hospital this winter after suffering a seizure and chest pains. Alvaro was hit by multiple bomb blasts in Afghanistan, but the Veterans Administration will not pay to treat the 24-year-old's war wounds because he was given an other-than-honorable discharge. Photo: The Gazette, Michael Ciaglo

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The number of soldiers discharged from the Army for misconduct has risen to its highest rate in recent times, and some are wounded combat troops who have lost their medical care and other veterans benefits because of other-than-honorable discharges, according to an investigation by the Colorado Springs Gazette.

The newspaper reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/17Oe0T4 ) that the investigation based on Army data found that annual misconduct discharges have increased more than 25 percent since 2009, mirroring the rise in wounded. Among combat troops, the increase is even sharper.

Total discharges at the eight Army posts that house most of the service's combat units have increased 67 percent since 2009.

"I've been working on this since the 70s, and I have never seen anything like this," said Mark Waple, a retired Army officer who now tries military cases as a civilian lawyer near North Carolina's Fort Bragg. "There seems to be a propensity to use minor misconduct for separation, even for service members who are decorated in combat and injured."

The figures studied by The Gazette include soldiers who have served multiple tours and have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. Some troops were cut loose for minor offenses that the Army acknowledges can be symptoms of TBI and PTSD.

"I see it every day," said Lenore Yarger, a veterans advocate near Fort Bragg. "We have gotten very efficient at getting people to fight wars but are not prepared to deal with the aftermath."

The Gazette found that several soldiers who tested positive for drugs were deployed anyway because the Army needed combat troops. But when they returned, they were discharged for the offense.
read more here

Sen. Simpson, Don’t Blame Vietnam Veterans for Our Nation’s “Fiscal Mess"

Sent by email. It shows that if the American people really do care about our veterans, they need to decide. Do we owe them a debt that has not been paid or do we again ask them to sacrifice even more? How much more can our veterans be asked to give when the rich in this country want more and more? Contractors are not the military. They make money off of the men and women asked to risk their lives. They make money off war itself. Yet the same members of congress refusing to hold them accountable for one dime are now saying that yet again the burden has to come from those willing to risk their lives for the sake of this country. That is exactly what the Vietnam veterans did and after 40 years some in congress want them to keep paying and sacrificing at the exact time we have new veterans coming into the long lines of the VA wondering what their future will look like if it is this bad now! America needs to stand with our veterans or stand in front of them the next time there is a war to fight.

Saturday, September 4, 2010
A Vietnam Veteran Responds: Sen. Simpson, Don’t Blame Vietnam Veterans for Our Nation’s “Fiscal Mess”
It's Time for All State Council President's To Join John's Call To Action!

September 3, 2010

By John Weiss,

President Rhode Island State Council, Vietnam Veterans of America

(Providence)--We hear that some in Congress are calling on America’s Vietnam veterans to slow down the Agent Orange “gravy train”—this because the price tag for caring for our war-related health problems is one that some would like not to pay.One former senator is even going so far as to implicitly question our patriotism. Sen. Simpson heaps praise on Vietnam veterans for having “saved this country.” This strange and long-overdue recognition, however, is merely his preface to the admonishment that follows: “The veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess.”

Sen. Simpson’s remarks are directed at an AP news story reporting that diabetes is the most frequently compensated disease among Vietnam veterans. I sincerely hope that Sen. Simpson is not calling on Vietnam veterans to sit back and allow Congress to turn their backs on our sick brother and sisters, thus allowing our “leaders” to renege on Lincoln’s promise, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan”? When our leaders send the nation’s sons and daughters off to war, they must be prepared to pay the full price—and in this case, the price for one of the longest, most divisive wars in our modern history is high, that we don’t deny.

Though we Vietnam veterans are aging, our short-term memories have yet to fail: We remember, not so long ago, when our Congress voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), authorizing the Department of the Treasury to purchase or insure troubled assets as a way to save the financial institutions And we also remember when certain CEOs of these same financial institutions, bailed out by U.S. taxpayer dollars, continued to pay themselves excessive bonuses, with U.S. taxpayer dollars. We wondered then what was happening to our country. And now we know.

The projected cost of TARP continues to fluctuate over time, depending on the source. According to a report issued in March 2010, by the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of the TARP program over the next ten years is estimated at $109 billion. In August 2010, however, the Treasury Department estimated that TARP program would cost $105 billion. The ten-year projected cost of caring for our veterans suffering from the contested Agent Orange-related war wounds, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, is $42.2 billion. Let’s ask the American people where they would rather their tax dollars go. We stand with our fellow citizens in every community, all across our great nation.

We stand with our newest generation of veterans and with all veterans. Our fight is their fight. They are us, and we are them. And years down the road, how we prevail in Congress today will foreshadow how they will prevail as they age and become us. We support our newest generation of warriors for they are our sons and daughters, those whom we honor when they go off to battle and those whom we honor when they come home—you see, warriors are generation bound. A strong country relies on a strong defense. And we are your defenders. So when you deliberate, remember that our country’s future relies, not on those corporate lobbyists who flash through Congress’s halls, but on us, its citizens. And if nothing else, come election time, we will be leading our families to the polls.

Friday, September 3, 2010
Mrs. Kelley - From: Glenda Kelley (on behalf of Charles)
blogger's note: perhaps our participation in the economic ruin of our country isn't quite as malicious as seen by Senator Simpson...I think this was the part that angered me the most. Who do they think ordered the spraying of all the chemicals that were used, the same government that was told by all the scientists "do not do this" not only did they do it but mixed it in quantities far and above the recommended usage. The "miracle" turning into milk and honey is almost laughable. My husband was an engineer. He made lots more money working than he will ever make in disability payments from the VA. Do they really think these men wouldn't rather be physically fit and able to work and play and travel or maybe just live to see their 65th birthday. Yes heart disease can be a condition of old age but many of these men have been suffering from it for 20 yrs or more ...just because it is just now being recognized does not mean its because they are now old. In the ranch hand transcripts it was noted that they were not seeing increases in cancer because the men were dying of heart disease before the cancers had a chance to develop. We need to do something before these people spread enough of these lies to kill any chances we have of getting what all our Vietnam Veterans (by land and sea) deserve.Come up with a plan and count the Kelley's in.

Glenda

via Paul Sutton

Agent Orange Victims & Widows Support Network

Home Of The Agent Orange Quilt Of Tears

http://www.agentorangequiltoftears.com~Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance~