I have to be honest and upfront I am AGAINST any type of mercenaries working for the taxpayers in any war zone or hazardous duty type assignment, which should be done by a military member in uniform and under the rules of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) without any type of command structure you end up with fisaco's like Blackwater killing 17 civilans in Baghdad. The nasty azz party the contractors held in Afghanistan last year.
Then there were the KBR rapes where female employees were raped by fellow KBR employees and KBR basically told the women to go pound sand, if soldiers had done this they would be in Leavenworth for decades.
But even as the military veterans are getting screwed over by the Veterans Adminsitration as documented by my past 5 years of Daily Kos diaries, others by Jim Staro, and many people from the IAVA and other veterans that post here.
It is normally at least 6 months to even get told no you're claim is denied and then the veteran has to wait anywhere from 2-5 years before the claim is heard by the Board of veteran Appeals (BVA) General Shinseki has attempted to make the system better, but he is working with a agency that is still dealing on a WW2 era style paper file system. The last time the VA had a major overhaul was done in the mid 50s by then General Omar Bradley. General Shinseki has made some MAJOR decisions on making some Vietnam era medical problems automatically service connected hairy cell luekemia, Ischemic Heart Disease and Parkinsons. He also just announced 9 new presumptive conditions for Gulf War service which began in 1990 with the first Gulf War will end at a date to be determined in the future, when a President defines the Gulf war to be ended. Improvements yes, totally fixed NO.
But yesterday, I came across this Back From Iraq, Injured War-Zone Workers Fight Insurance Giant AIG, Face Financial Ruin
I was disappointed to say the least, shocked no, I would have thought that the insurance program would have been handled better by now, after all these are civilians which can walk away from their contracts a whole lot faster than a GI can, without risk of going to prison for desertion in war time.
But for men and women that are making 3-5 times what military personnel make for doing the exact same work, I am not going to cry for them, the soldiers make 30,000 a year roughly for a 12 month tour in a hazardous duty area, Iraq or Afghanistan and yes it it tax free, if they re-enlist while in a war zone there bonus becomes tax free, so if I was going to become a career NCO I damn sure would re-enlist in Iraq or Afghanistan or Kuwait where I would keep every dime of the 10-50,000 dollar retention bonus.
Civilian contractors who were injured or wounded while supporting American troops in Iraq continue to face long battles with insurance giant AIG for payment of their disability claims, despite Congressional inquiries and calls to reform the system that has handled tens of thousands of disability claims from employees of overseas contractors.
Some AIG clients say they suffered while execs were treated to the high life.
The injured workers, including some wounded by small-arms fire or IEDs during insurgent attacks, complain that AIG has continued to "delay and deny" their claims nearly a year after a joint investigation by ABC News, ProPublica, and the Los Angeles Times first exposed serious problems with AIG's handling of disability claims under a government-funded insurance system. An analysis found that AIG challenged nearly half of the claims involving the most serious injuries.
"They will spend whatever it takes, or do whatever it takes, to berate, belittle and humiliate us," said Bill Carlisle, an injured Arkansas man who drove trucks in Iraq for nearly two years.
they are facing now many of the same problems that disabled veterans find themselves in and are mad about it, gee go figure that one out.....
A ProPublica analysis of 30,000 claims found that AIG challenged 43 percent of the claims involving the most serious injuries. AIG contested more than half of the claims from contractors who said they were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"People like myself who went outside the wire, we went out there without a weapon, and we come back haunted by certain things, and then we have to have the added stress of AIG doing these things or not doing things – it's just horrible," said Carlisle.
Carlisle says he lives in constant pain from a severe groin injury he sustained while loading his truck for a convoy mission, and that he also suffers from PTSD. He says he has tried to look for work, but cannot find a job that will accommodate his work restrictions.
Carlisle says he fell behind on car and home mortgage payments after AIG cut off his disability pay last September. He expects the bank to re-possess his car in the next few days. His home, which is now under foreclosure, is scheduled to go on the auction block next month.
And to end this, this is the same argument many of us disabled veterans have been making for years, that if something is not done and soon, there will be no one volunteering for military service if they will not be cared for after they are harmed and then tossed onto the streets with no help from the military or the VA which is supposed to care for them
"him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan the VA motto is a like taken from President Lincolns second inagural address March 15, 1865
Carlisle worries that if the system isn't fixed it will ultimately end up hurting U.S. war efforts overseas.
"No civilian will be willing to go and do what we've done, because they'll be afraid to," said Carlisle. "What's going to happen if they get hurt or injured? What's going to happen to their spouse if they get killed? They're going to have to deal with companies like AIG."
Mr Carlisle welcome to the life of a military member of the United States, we just wish we had been paid as much as you and you other mercenary friends were, and for your info the VA is screwing us just as bad as AIG is screwing you out of your higher payments.
Off topic and full disclosure I have known Charles Howell III since he was ten years old and I delivered mail to his neighborhood, and would see him when he came to get the daily mail long before dad sent him to Florida for special golf lessons at Ledbetters academy.....and he met and became friends with the worlds most famous adulterer Tiger Woods and Charlies neighbor there at Isleworth I am tired of the women that keep bringing their "stories" to TMZ and anywhere else they can sell them, yes Tiger was wrong but excuse me everyone on this planet KNOWS Tiger is married and has 2 kids so at what point do the women become part of the crime, it was and is NOT all Tigers fault, they all jumped into bed willingly and Tiger does not owe them money nor apologies and all I want to see is Tiger playing golf and winning again the stories of his sexcapades need to go away he was and is a dog, now whatever happens is up to Elin not even Tiger has much control over what she decides to do, she can nail him to a wall and not even the best divorce lawyer can save Tiger now Elin and the kids will get whatever she wants properties, boats, acrs, tigers azz etc he needs to do some serious damage control with his wife and no one else. Tiger go win another Green jacket and shut them up pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Oh c'mon Charlie win some more trophies I have always expected more from you I am a disabled vet in a power chair I live my life vicarisouly thru you, I can't train troops or even fight in the wars anymore but I spent every week you play golf watching every stroke you make if I could walk I would do what ever was necessary to become your caddie, just to help you get your head right on the course.