There has been much public chest thumping about the number of veterans’ deaths allegedly due to the Veteran’s Administration untimely admissions procedures. I had occasion to be at the Tucson V.A. hospital once. I was dreading the visit because of the V.A. horror stories I heard from fellow Vietnam Marines who had more cause to be there and seeing the 1978 movie Coming Home starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. The Tucson V.A. hospital was just the opposite. This hospital is built like a maze. Following one of the tentacle hallways I reached a nexus. An employee immediately asked if I needed help finding my appointment. It was like WalMart used to be. Everyone was courteous, patient and helpful. The doctor conducting the final interview was thorough and showed sincere concern for me as an individual. His comprehensive conversation ended up saving me over $12,000.00 in health insurance premiums.
Mentioning my appreciation to the front desk attendant she told me the new hospital director had only been there a few months. His first official act was to assemble every employee working there to tell them “If you don’t understand that the veterans coming to us for medical care are the most important people in these buildings then you will be looking for another job.”
The media frenzy over the veterans’ deaths reminds me of a previous brouhaha over the alleged mistreatment of soldiers’ remains at Graves Registration, Dover AFB, Delaware. The accusations didn’t jive with the experience of Marine Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl who escorted deceased PFC Chance Phelps back to his home town from the Iraq War. This real life incident was portrayed in the 2009 movie Taking Chance starring Kevin Bacon. I watched it at home with photos of my three Marine sons in dress blues beside the TV. Two of them were in Afghanistan as I watched.
My only personal experiences with Graves Registration was watching them off-load silver caskets at Kadena AB, Okinawa as I prepared to fly to Vietnam, others loading more caskets onto planes at Danang, AB Republic of Vietnam, and passing by the caskets of the dead in Mogadishu on Oct 5, 1993. The only demeanor I witnessed was of respect and reverence.
THE paradigm in any federal agency is if a problem becomes public it will be the lowest person on the totem pole – not the one most responsible – that is thrown under the bus to satisfy an incompletely informed public’s ire. The media and Hollywood are infamous for intentionally misinterpreting facts to stimulate the publics’ prurient passions (aka Lone Survivor). A glaring gap in the media’s coverage is how many veterans normally die before being seen by the V.A.? No baseline makes statistics suspect and issues more political than substantive (distracting from otherwise Congressional rigor mortis).
There are other factors to consider aside from the increase in legitimate medical care resulting from two simultaneous –and equally ill-advised – wars. Why else could the backlog be so large? When sycophantic, vote-seeking politicians annually liberalize the opportunities for tax free disability ratings, of course the number of “disabled veterans” skyrockets. In the late ‘60s liberal Berkeley professors’ lobbied Congress to include in the Merck Manual of Diseases “Delayed Stress Syndrome” now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. B.G. Burkett’s investigative book Stolen Valor revealed a minimum of 70% of PTSD claims were fraudulent. V.A counselors referred to it as a “cash cow.” It hasn’t changed much since. Although the quality of medical care for real wounded troops has improved immeasurably, it is my opinion that most “PTSD” today is created pre-military by society coddling upcoming generations. Self-esteem doesn’t count for much in combat – unless you’ve been trained to be the meanest S.O.B. in the Valley of Death.
Another reason for delays in treatment is the ludicrous Congressional mandate granting fifty percent disability for….sleep apnea – a sleep disorder caused by obesity. Not so coincidently this is the percentage that triggers a veteran’s entire retirement be tax exempt. And, not surprisingly, since then a majority of veterans are now 50% disabled .
And, finally, the Pentagon recently sent letters to tens of thousands of former service members who had complained of sexual harassment. Regardless of the final outcome of the complaint (many are baseless) or their length of service, the Pentagon -in best Madison Avenue advertisement style- encouraged “victims” to re-submit their separation requests …so they could receive life time retirement benefits!
This is capitalism’s Supply and Demand juxtaposed to Socialism’s Demand and Supply. Your elected representatives respond to military professional officer and NCO lobbyists. Veterans complain about Obama’s exploding deficits yet gleefully boast of participating in the financial blood sucking. When Congress opens the disability floodgates for veterans to claim everything under the sun (like Social Security does) it naturally results in a V.A. over whelmed with claims, lengthened appointment delays and veterans’ with real maladies suffering and dying among the mob. Congress is only doing what Saul Alynsky, et.al. nearly accomplished in New York City – bankrupting the system by recruitment. When you point an accusing finger at someone there are always three fingers pointing back at you.
