Nothing is too good for our Veterans and that is exactly what they are getting: nothing too good. This Thursday I transmitted a newsletter to many of our supporters and friends that discussed the ongoing and tragically growing scandal about the fate of the Veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. While much of what we are reading about this scandal is no real surprise to those of us who have experience with Veteran-related issues, one thing about this is surprising: that what we are reading about actually occurred within the boundaries of the Active Duty Army before they ever got into the VA system. And, lest you think that all these stories are just isolated occurrences, read this piece about homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and you’ll understand that what we have heard about is only the tip of the iceberg.
The National Story
As we all know, this week the National and International media is fully focused on two Washington Post articles by Dana Priest and Anne Hull that describe conditions and treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. (link) (link) Last week there was another article in the Washington Post about red tape that kept VA doctors from getting access to medical images they needed to treat patients with traumatic brain injuries. (link) And these are just some of the stories about difficulties faced by veterans in getting proper medical treatment. (Here is one roundup of recent stories.)
In addition to these there is an upcoming Newsweek story on PTSD that I am told will be even bigger than the Walter Reed story and there will be a series of pieces by Ilona Meagher on PTSD (she has been writing at EPluribus media and the Amazon profile of her new book is here) at SecuringAmerica.com starting tomorrow, February 26.
A Personal Observation about Walter Reed
In the very early days of the war in Iraq, a good military friend of mine, then Colonel Dave Hogg was deployed as the Commanding Officer of one of the Brigades that was in the initial operations in Iraq. Dave was the Army aide to General Clark when I was the Navy aide. We worked very close together under great pressure for quite awhile when we were together and got to know each others families quite well. His son was serving in the airborne brigade that is (was) stationed in Italy. I was a staff member on the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives. Dave's son was deployed to the northern part of Iraq with the parachute jump that was designed to secure a northern airport so that troops could begin flying in to secure the Kurdish area of the country. Remember, that originally the 4th Infantry Division was going to cross through Turkey and enter Iraq from the north but the Turkish government said no. How quickly we forget the ineptitude of this Administration when they created a plan to invade Iraq through Turkey without asking the Turkish government. Arrogance beyond historical precedent. In any event, young Mike stepped on a mine and lost a leg below the knee.
Back at a then quite empty Walter Reed hospital he went without clothes, pay, food ... (quite literally there was no way for him to get to the dining facility) and all the other horror stories that you read about - only worse since this was just the beginning and no one was ready to deal with the influx of critically injured soldiers. At one point he was reduced to getting his lunch from a fast food vending machine. I'm not making this up - I was there and saw it for myself.
I made phone calls, I went to Walter Reed and yelled at Colonels, I wrote letters to Commanding Generals and all the rest. I asked Mike what was his favorite candy was and he told me that he was looking for way to buy Jelly Bellies. I called the CEO of the company that makes Jelly Bellies and a moving case of them arrived. I got hold of a Nike distributor who sent shoes. I went to the Mall and talked to a manager at a sporting goods store and came back with a few dozen sets of civilian sweats, shorts, shirts and socks. Mike told me to find the kind that could be worn on either foot so that nothing would have to be thrown away. In the end Mike was taken materially care of but my time at the House Armed Services Committee came to an end and I moved on to other assignments leaving Walter Reed behind. It has not gotten any better for those left behind. My experiences are now almost four years old and the crush of wounded will eventually overcome the ability of the military and VA to deal with the numbers that need care. And we have not even started.
The Reason for the Problems
Where are all these problems coming from all of sudden? Many of these problems stem from a shell game this Administration and so many of the Republican rubber stamps in Congress have been playing with the VA for more than a decade. On one hand they stand for photo ops with disabled Veterans and verbally proclaim that they support the troops but on the other hand they have set up an incredible train wreck, a budget that leaves the VA virtually naked in the face of huge increases in demand for fundamental medical services. Randy Kuhl recently stated that: "I will continue to fight with every last bit of energy I have to make sure that our troops overseas are given everything they need to get the job done." Not only is that not true but he fully supports a budget that leaves Veterans out in the cold while at the same time justifying his position by claiming that benefits have increased. You can read his statement in support of George Bush here. And, here is one recent article that shows how the Bush administration knowingly under-budgets instead of giving realistic budget estimates.
And, unfortunately, many of the problems written about in the Washington Post this week are nothing new. Nor are the medical problems at the heart of the challenges of the Veterans community. The larger, far more damaging reality is what will happen three - four – five - years from now, when not only are basic services not available but when the glow of yellow ribbons fades and warriors become, once again, forgotten. Even Rush Limbaugh was shocked to find out that Veterans receive a pittance upon death that barely allows them to purchase a headstone and the families of the 9-11 attack received on average hundreds of thousands of dollars. This, by the way, includes combat and operational related deaths for our military personnel. If he had gotten off his drug induced, pompous, arrogant, golden microphone for just long enough to actually wear a military uniform he would know what we faced on active duty and what we face in post-military life. That goes for O’Reilly and Hannity and all the rest of the "conservative" million dollar sunshine so-called Patriot talking heads who know not what they talk about.
The Local Story in NY 29
Where the rubber meets the road, in the medical wards of the VA and the military thousands of dedicated doctors and nurses work around the clock to do the best they can do. Right here in the 29th Congressional District at the Canandaigua facility these tireless health care providers are under assault. Not from terrorists or even common criminals – actually it is worse than that. They are under assault from politicians who say in public that they are supporting the troops and then in the dark of night they write budgets that cut and slash the very care that they know is needed so badly. I wrote last October here about how the "center of excellence" at the acute inpatient psychiatric facility is being downsized while returning Veterans who desperately need counseling and more have no where to go.
This is no longer a hypothetical – as you can read below it is real. BUT – it’s worse, the entire facility is under the knife for closure. That’s right, back during the Congressional campaign I was told by the workers that they had indeed been informed that the entire in-patient facility was going to be closed and since then public meetings have confirmed that the current plan includes closing the facility and outsourcing care to civilian hospitals under a vague plan. The problem is that if the facility is going to be closed for lack of money, where will the increase in money come from to outsource the care to private civilian hospitals? It’s criminal and our Congressional Representatives both knew then but did not want it discussed during a close campaign but have now done nothing to stop the closure. Just one more hole in the system – but this one is right here at home in the 29th Congressional district.
Here is a recent letter about the facility that has been brought to my attention:
The Acute Psychiatry Unit at Canandaigua has treated "Active Duty Military Personnel" in the past. This week we were contacted by Fort Drum regarding 3 referrals that required inpatient care. We were advised that Syracuse VA Medical Center was full and we were the next facility of choice. When they were advised that we also were full they advised us that Good Samaritan Hospital in Watertown had 9 patients waiting for inpatient psychiatry care in their emergency room and there were no alternatives available for placement of their soldiers.
Canandaigua stepped up to the plate and made room for two of those heroes from Fort Drum and accepted them for admission by going over census; however when Fort Drum begins to receive those soldiers scheduled to return from OIF/OEF service next month it is plain that we will be facing a mental health care crisis that the VA Upstate Healthcare Network will be unable to meet.
Therefore on behalf of the Employees of the Canandaigua VAMC we are calling on you as our elected representatives to demand that the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs reconsider the pending closure of the Canandaigua Acute Psychiatry Unit and keep it open and fully functioning. This will insure that our veterans past, present and future will be able to access the mental health care that will enable them to return to meaningful lives and productive members of our society.
Signed;
Colleen Combs
President AFGE Local 3306
We must rally to stop this closure and all the others that are on the horizon. From the desks of Congressmen who vote as a rubber stamp to let George Bush expand this war without any new strategy we see the lack of commitment to protect those personnel once they return. Congressman Randy Kuhl was quoted as telling Bob Fink, a local Veterans Activist, that he "was asking for too much" when he demanded that Kuhl support mandatory funding of the VA budget. "Asking for too much." This, from a man who spent nearly a decade in draft deferments during the Vietnam conflict – another brilliant military commitment that ended only after over 50,000 thousand American died and what was the last legislative act of the Randy Kuhl and the rubber stamping Bush Congress last year – you got it – they voted to create "normal" trade relations with Vietnam so that the few remaining living wage jobs left in the United States can be shipped to the very country that previous President waged war upon.
Conclusion
Who will take care of the tens of thousands who will become last years headlines in forgotten newspapers? The VA is totally under funded and if you read the Presidents' budget - the entire organization falls off a financial cliff in fiscal year 2009 - a year after this Administration leaves office. When corporate America stops sending gift bags and these soldiers still cannot work, who will step us to the bar to find the money needed? How, in the name of everything we value as a people can we be making the same mistakes that were made 40 years ago to an entire generation of Vietnam Veterans? Where is the conscience of those who vote to send these warriors overseas without voting to take care of them upon return?
The Bush administration and their remaining rubber stamps in Congress are not looking out for us and they are most certainly not looking out for the Veterans community at large, the returning active duty, Guard and reserve forces and worse – the critically injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ONLY way to reverse this trend is to recruit, fund, and elect veterans to congress so that their collective voice will be heard.
It’s time to change the future.