These types of articles have been coming out of the woodwork, following the decades long 'lets blame the VA' meme's, especially by those of a certain so called political ideology, since the recent ruling and comments by the judge and the so called representatives, both parties, hired by the people.
May 25, 2011 - Retired Spc. Steve Bohn, who was severely injured in an ambush in Afghanistan three years ago, is sinking deeper into debt every day while he waits for Veterans Affairs officials to process his disability claim.
“I get $699 a month from my retirement pay, and my rent is $700 a month,” the 24-year-old veteran said. “I can’t pay my electric bill. I can’t pay any of my other bills.
“I used to work as a roofer and a chef, but I can’t do either of those anymore, because of the pain. I’m struggling.”
The money problems are just the latest ordeal for Bohn, who told lawmakers Wednesday that he already has weathered multiple surgeries, apathetic care specialists and frustrating incompetence from military physicians. Twice he was sent to the wrong base while awaiting surgeries. For the last seven months, his pleas to speed up the claims process have been ignored.
Members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee said Bohn’s story is indicative of the infuriating problems still plaguing injured servicemembers as they move from military wounded warrior units to veterans health care. More than four years after promises of improvements following the wounded troop care scandals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, they noted, progress remains frustratingly slow.
Officials from the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments insisted that improvements have been made, and that anecdotes the senators have heard during their series of hearings on veterans care — long waits for medical appointments, inexperienced prosthetics specialists at VA facilities, confusing and confrontational benefits processing — are being addressed. {continued}
Lets get the facts straight. The VA has been under funded for decades, switching funds around from those related to the Korean conflict to those political points as to us Vietnam Vets that the country was doing something, that started the ball rolling for the following decades, not to mention ignoring us Vietnam Vets as to issues like PTS and Defoliants, that carried through as to Gulf War Syndrome, especially up to the most recent past one.
The technology of record keeping etc. alone has stayed far behind the advances the public was even able to obtain as well as the DoD and intelligence agencies were advancing in. Many of the appointed heads and their administrations over these decades were political appointee's not there, like many well known Veterans groups, for the Veterans but for political ideology and use of us Veterans for same, quick points and votes ahead of coming elections.
As to these recent two conflicts little to nothing was done by the representatives, and the country approved, as they rubber stamped costs towards invasion and occupations, not even congressional hearings, over site and great expanse of the budget needed by the VA, and military care as well, remember Walter Reed, untill the 110th Congress when the catchup game started.
And now thankfully we have one of the few VA administrations, in my lifetime, not being run politically, playing that catchup game as well as moving back into the long ignored issues of the past and us older Veterans especially as to Vietnam and the first Gulf War.
Sure there will be problems in any huge Agency, but if not funded fully on the front end, or in this case when the country cheers on wars of choice, the problems are greatly expanded, in back ups for needs and much much more which ends up costing much more in many ways creating further problems!
This is Not the VA's doing, but hey it's Really Easy to lay blame on others, instead of Demanding 'Sacrifice', This Is A Major Problem Of The Country Especially The Huge Majority That Don't Serve And The Wealthy Who Reap Great Wealth From Our Wars Of Choice Waged Over These Decades!!!
USN '67-'71 All Shore GMG3 Vietnam In-Country '70-'71 last of my four, who takes every chance to Thank the tepublicans for their support of us, verbal and symbol spitting on, with their 'purple heart bandages' while sending this generations soldiers into two more conflict theaters of choice!!
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