When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they’re going, to care for their families while they’re gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.
Barack Obama
2004 Democratic Convention Keynote Address
I hope I can be forgiven for repeating this diary for those who missed it the first time.
This won't be the standard-issue karateexplosions diary, and I do apologize for that. There's just not a whole lot of funny in this story. But that doesn't mean we have to forgo the kitty picture:
The Bush administration's willingness to send our troops into harm's way for no good reason is made even more egregious by the fact that he fairly consistently opposes any programs and services intended to help those same soldiers and their families. From attempting to cut pay for troops in Iraq to underfunding military benefits to cutting school funds for children of soldiers to the complete and total bunglefuck that was Walter Reed and other VA hospitals, this administration has repeatedly fucked over the soldiers they are putting in harm's way over lies.
For injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the military disability system seems especially geared toward literally adding insult to injury.
Military disability paperwork can be extremely complicated to fill out, and it is vitally important for soldiers who have suffered injuries and disabilities during the course of their service. One crucial aspect of the disability paperwork is the "narrative", in which the soldier’s condition is explained. Disability decisions on eligibility and benefits are based on this narrative.
In Fort Drum in upstate New York, soldiers received assistance with their narratives from representatives of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The assistance was very effective: soldiers at Fort Drum received higher disability ratings than soldiers at other military bases. A normal person might look at that fact and think, "How many of our soldiers deserve disability benefits that they are not receiving because they didn't write a good enough narrative? We should duplicate the Department of Veterans Affairs efforts for all soldiers."
That's not what the Department of Defense did, though. Instead, they sent a team to Fort Drum to investigate what was going on. According to VA officials, that team instructed them to stop assisting soldiers with their narratives. VA representatives were not violating any rules or laws by helping the soldiers, and in fact what they were doing should have been a model for veterans' advocates everywhere. But disability payments come out of the DoD budget, creating a financial incentive to keep the payments low, according to attorneys familiar with the case.
The Army surgeon general denied these allegations, which were reported by National Public Radio. But NPR obtained a memo confirming that a COL Baker instructed the VA officials that
"VBA should discontinue counseling MEB* soldiers on the appropriateness of DOD MEB/PEB** ratings and findings."
* Medical Evaluation Board
** Physical Evaluation Board
When confronted with the memo, the Army backed down and said that there was a "miscommunication" and the Fort Drum VA officials were doing a great job.
Now we have a story out of Pharyngula about soldiers continuing to get shafted by our military and government leadership.
Read the whole thing at this link, as I will just bang on the highlights. The first highlight has to do with soldiers who have been injured with concussions during their duty. Head injuries are extremely common in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan -- they are in fact called the "signature casualty" of those conflicts. Among the many effects of these injuries are an increased occurrence of extreme migraine-like headaches. BrokenSoldier takes it from here:
The schedule that lists ratings that are to be applied states that for a 50% rating, migraines must meet the frequency requirement of at least two per month, and the severity must be prostrating. After veterans began receiving this rating for their complications from IED-induced concussions, an instruction to physicians was published informing them that from then on, the word 'prostrating' was not to be interpreted as it is defined, but rather for migraines to be considered prostrating for rating purposes, the soldier must have stopped and sought immediate, emergency medical attention. Due to the fact that it is very difficult for someone laying prostrate from a migraine to get up and make it to the ER, you can imagine how well this worked in reducing the number of veterans that received disability ratings for their migraines.
This is a familiar Bush administration tactic -- if you don't like something, redefine it. The goal and the result -- to save money by fucking over injured soldiers.
Furthermore, it has gotten to the point where it is difficult to tell what is actual incompetence and what is feigned incompetence intended to frustrate a soldier's attempts to receive the benefits he or she has earned. Again, BrokenSoldier:
The incompetence of those that handled my retirement file ensured that the necessary paperwork failed to reach almost all of the necessary agencies. And I am by no means the only one this type of injustice is happening to, but instead it is a widespread occurrence. The reason for this is that once the soldier leaves the service and begins the fight for his or her benefits, it is simply that soldier against the entire framework of the Army bureaucracy, and that is far from a fair fight.
Well, you might think, what about implementing a program like the Fort Drum veteran's advocates that we talked about above? Maybe something like that could help walk the soldiers through the process and ensure that no one falls through the cracks of the complicated and frustrating process?
The Department of Defense is a step ahead of you:
They do allow you a liaison in order to to help you navigate the system, but if mine was any indication, this is more of a burden than a help - in asking her to participate in a conference call to discuss why I disagreed with my initial rating of 10%*, she resisted and actually said to me, "I'm not here to hold your hand through this."
* 30% is required to receive medical retirement and get monthly payments
This soldier retired in January and didn't receive a check until June. Once he started receiving checks, they were taxed (they shouldn't have been). When attempting to fill a prescription he found that he was not insured because paperwork had not been forwarded to the appropriate agencies. The result:
So I have ended up in a position quite familiar to veterans - broke, living with my parents, in debt up to my ears from the months without income, and having no consistent medical coverage.
Is it any wonder at all that veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in the United States?
This bears repeating:
So what can we do about it?
STEP 1: Write to Your Congressional Representative
Go to this website and use the prompts to locate your representative's contact information. Let them know that you find the deplorable treatment of our veterans unacceptable.
STEP 2: Write to the Media
Be concise and respectful. Particularly with letters to the editor, there may be a word limit in order to get letters published.
ABC News: netaudr@abc.com
Nightline: nightline@abcnews.com
20/20: 2020@abc.com
CBS Evening News: evening@cbsnews.com
The Early Show: earlyshow@cbs.com
60 Minutes II: 60II@cbsnews.com
48 Hours: 48hours@cbsnews.com
Face The Nation: ftn@cbsnews.com
Fox News: comments@foxnews.com
Special Report with Brit Hume: Special@foxnews.com
FOX Report with Shepard Smith: Foxreport@foxnews.com
The O'Reilly Factor: Oreilly@foxnews.com
Hannity & Colmes: Hannity@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com
On the Record with Greta: Ontherecord@foxnews.com
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: nightly@nbc.com
NBC News Today: today@nbc.com
Dateline NBC: dateline@nbc.com
Hardball with Chris Matthews: hardball@msnbc.com
MSNBC Reports with Joe Scarborough: msnbcreports@msnbc.com
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: newshour@pbs.org
All Things Considered: atc@npr.org
Morning Edition: morning@npr.org
Talk Of The Nation: totn@npr.org
LA Times Letters to the Editor: letters@latimes.com
NY Times Letters to the Editor: letters@nytimes.com
NY Times Editors: nytnews@nytimes.com
USA Today Letters to the Editor: editor@usatoday.com
Wall Street Journal Letters to the Editor: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
Washington Post Letters to the Editor: letters@washpost.com
Newsweek Letters to the Editor: letters@newsweek.com
Time Letters to the Editor: letters@time.com
US News & World Report Letters to the Editor: letters@usnews.com
Associated Press: info@ap.org
UPI Comment and Tips: tips@upi.com
STEP 3: Support Local Veterans
This could mean participating in your local American Legion or VFW post, or it could mean volunteering or donating to local homeless shelters and food banks.
STEP 4: Help Elect Barack Obama
John McCain has tried to take credit for it after it passed, but he actually opposed the new GI Bill, sponsored by Jim Webb and supported by Barack Obama, which offered expanded education benefits to veterans. His reason? Giving soldiers educations would make them want to leave the military.
Electing Barack Obama will not only end the Bush-era incompetence of administering veteran's programs, but will also bring troops home in less than 100 years -- ensuring that there will be fewer soldiers forced to live through the nightmare that BrokenSoldier and his brothers in arms now face.
UPDATE: Jeffersonian Democrat and DWG also point out that John McCain has proposed a plan wherein veteran care will be unfairly rationed based on whether veterans were wounded in combat or not.
UPDATE #2: Teacherken also discusses McCain's proposal to ration veteran health care here.