Veterans For America has long been focused on issues surrounding our National Guard soldiers and assessing the problems that they face when returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. Through VFA’s nonpartisan National Guard efforts, the group has conducted reports and examined National Guard units on a state-by-state basis to determine their needs and analyze the issues they face.
On Wednesday, VFA released its most recent report that takes a look at the Alaska Army National Guard. The report has garnered plenty of media attention and The Minnesota Independent provided its own look at the report:
The latest iteration of this formula comes to us by way of Lt. Gen. Craig Campbell, commissioner of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, who groaned yesterday that a Veterans for America report constitutes a political "ambush" of the governor. Campbell described the preliminary report — which focuses largely on post-deployment problems, especially vets’ insufficient access to health care — as "poorly written, lacking substantiation of allegations and basically filled with plain incorrect information." Veterans for America points out that it had begun its review of Alaska’s National Guard more than a year ago, long before Palin became a national figure.
As indicated by The Minnesota Independent, this review was started over a year ago - long before most of America outside of Alaska knew who Sarah Palin was. The goal of this report isn’t political. The goal of this report isn’t to target a now-prominent political figure. The goal of this report was to address the needs of the Alaska National Guard and determine what is required to address those needs.
Gov. Palin doesn’t deserve a pass. Palin has touted since her entry into the presidential race that she headed the Alaskan National Guard. If that is what she wishes to tout, then she should be able to answer questions and address the problems facing her state’s National Guard soldiers.
But the issues with the Alaska National Guard are bigger than one person. These issues impact many soldiers returning home from deployments (and, at times, multiple deployments). Troops that are deployed face many obstacles in post-deployment life. Right now, the programs and systems aren’t in place to address these obstacles. VFA concluded in the report that the United States should not deploy National Guard soldiers from Alaska any longer until these problems are remedied.
With Alaska at the forefront thanks to Gov. Palin’s notoriety, this is a time where we can really address how we are letting our National Guard fall through the cracks. Trying to pass off a sincere attempt to address the urgent needs of our soldiers returning home from multiple deployments as politics is a great disservice to our troops and veterans who face post-deployment obstacles upon their return and lack the necessary programs and systems to deal with these issues.
I'd rather see the needs our National Guard met, even if it means suffering accusations of 'playing politics', than to not see them met at all. Again, these issues are bigger than Gov. Palin. This affects many National Guard troops and their families. These issues must be addressed before Alaska fails to provide the necessary services to those who have honorably and bravely served their country.
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