http://www.defenseone.com/...
Rachel Maddow had a veterans family on her show last night. They
were there to discuss a veterans suicide bill. Twenty three vets kill themselves every day
in this country. The proposed bill would add more doctors and to more to help this crisis.
After the family left, I was in tears. I'm not known to cry, I have plenty of excuses watching what is happening to my two sons.
The bill is named after a veteran who killed himself after coming home from our current war. He had tried in Houston to get help.Houston is not a city
where a veteran should expect immediate mental health help. The hospital is way under staffed.
The veterans name was mentioned on the show but I would never say it. The parents
are the ones who should decide where their son's name is mentioned.
Sen. Tom Coburn from Oklahoma is keeping the bill from being voted on. The 20 million dollar price tag, current programs, and earlier concerns about the
possibility of slowing down a vets right to buy a gun are excuses coming from his office
as to why he would try and prevent the bill from passing. The dead veterans parents
pleaded with the senator to change his mind.
We have no draft in this country anymore. Our veterans went to war believing the lies
that the Bush gang gave them. They were going to war to capture the folks who caused 9-11-2001. Over 4,000 soldiers died because of a lie our President told them.
Our troops found themselves thrust in a religious war that has gone on for centuries.
How safe is Iraq now? Your right, some troops are going back to Iraq. We will never leave Afghanistan. With no draft, our country
has been forced to have soldiers serve in hell many times.
It is pure evil not to do everything possible to help our returning veterans. If a soldier
was forced to go to war more than once, I would immediately give them 100% service
connected disability. This act would give them a disability check every month, free
medical care and what ever else the vet might need. No time limits should be placed
on when the soldiers apply for benefits. I would sign them up when they were discharged. No waiting for any care for hem. Sixty percent of our spending bill is defense related. Our country has the money to care for these hero's. Maybe we should
stop giving $80 million dollars to outside groups to design and run torture programs
that don't work. Maybe one less weapon. Maybe stop hiring Cheney's old company and
companies like that. How many no-bid contracts do we currently have in our defense
department?
Less than 1% of us are directly involved in our current war. The war that will still be
going on when your grandchildren will be grandparents.
Follow under the fold.
Tom Coburn is leaving Congress. I have no idea what's he is thinking.
I wonder if he has any family member in the military.
I have seen the faces of returning soldiers in my veterans hospital. Lost arms, legs,
brain damage, blindness and P.T.S.D have changed forever thousands of lives.War
is an obscenity that should be eliminated from this world. If that's impossible, then have
a draft. See what our nations appetite is for war when all our young
people serve a mandatory two year term.
Our returning veterans need to be given the finest medical care possible. They need
to be treated as returning hero's:they are.
-I dream of giving birth
to a child who will ask
'Mother what was war?"
-Eve Marriam