{This blog is not affiliated with the VA. Though a Veteran, four yrs. all shore in Navy last year In-Country Vietnam, I don't work for the VA}
**USN All Shore '67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam In Country '70-'71 - Independent**

In 2003 some 72% of Americans fully supported the Abandoning of the Missions and those Sent to Accomplish so extremely Quickly after 9/11!!
At least some 95%, if not more as less then 1% serve them, not only still support the, just below, total lack of Sacrifice, they ran from any and all Accountability and left everything still on the table to be continually used if the political/military want was still in play in future executive/legislative wants!!
DeJa-Vu: “With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11", Decades and War From, All Over Again!!
Especially for the Corporate and Wealthy Community, investors in Defense Industries, and for these, Afghanistan and Iraq, came Two Huge Tax Cuts, with more sweetheart deals to same from states and the fed!!


Thousands of people across America don’t just talk about honoring Veterans; they walk the walk. Dedicated Volunteers Serve Veterans for Decades

On this Executive Administration, it's Cabinet and those directly around same, "Best - Ever": "We haven't had this kind of visibility from the White House—ever." Joyce Raezer National Military Family Association - Dec. 30, 2011, and plenty more of similar since Joyce, others, spoke and continues!

Ask yourself: If the Veterans Administration is so corrupt and mismanaged, as the conservative ideology, under which the seeds of are planted when they control, wants everyone to buy into as they obstruct the budgets and do extremely little after they charge same, then why does the Private sector, many problems within rarely heard about, adopt so many practices and advanced technologies developed within the VA, for free?! The VA, DoD, and in partnership with Universities and Colleges, not just Health Care are constantly in R&D and that developed that works is quickly moved into the private, for profit, sector, even as the VA is long under funded, decades, and especially during and after our wars that the few are sent into!

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President Obama 26 August 2014

Fact: "This is not just a job of government. It’s not just a job of the veterans’ organizations. Every American needs to join us in taking care of those who've taken care of us. Because only 1 percent of Americans may be fighting our wars, but 100 percent of Americans benefit from that 1 percent. A hundred percent need to be supporting our troops. A hundred percent need to be supporting our veterans. A hundred percent need to be supporting our military families."

Fact:
"We’ve been able to accomplish historic increases to veterans funding. We’ve protected veterans health care from Washington politics with advanced appropriations. We’ve been able to make VA benefits available to more than 2 million veterans who didn't have them before, including more Vietnam vets who were exposed to Agent Orange. We’ve dedicated major new resources for mental health care. We’ve helped more than 1 million veterans and their families pursue their education under the Post-9/11 GI Bill."

August 26, 2014 - Secretary Robert A. McDonald's Remarks for the American Legion's 96th Annual Convention, Charlotte, NC
Fact: "Unlike, P&G, VA may not be concerned about quarterly profit and loss statements or shareholder value, but it does have a bottom line—Veterans. "
{which is why No Government agency should be turned into a private corporate entity feeding for profit off the Countries duty and responsibility, especially the VA}
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Fact: “We are dealing with veterans, not procedures—with their problems, not ours.” —General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration

Facts: Matthew Hoh {former Marine and foreign service officer in Afghanistan}: "We spend a trillion dollars a year on national security in this country."
"And when you add up to the Department of Defense, Department of State, CIA, Veterans Affairs, interest on debt, the number that strikes me the most about how much we're committed financially to these wars and to our current policies is we have spent $250 billion already just on interest payments on the debt we've incurred for the Iraq and Afghan wars."
26 September 2014

Fact: "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013

Fact: "12 years also is a long time. We now have a lifetime responsibility to a generation of service members, veterans and their families." Dr. Jonathan Woodson 11 Sep. 2013: With 9/11 Came Lifetime Responsibility
{two tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, came with these two recent unpaid for wars, nor the results of, DeJa-Vu all over again from the previous decades and wars from! Ignore the many issues, by those served, no need to fund!}

Fact: Sen. Bernie Sanders told Republicans: “If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, than don’t go war. These people are bearing the brunt of what war is about, We have a moral obligation to support them.” February, 26th, 2014

Fact: 25 June 2014 U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller: Veterans' Affairs issue an 'all too similar' scene

Fact: How We Could Do More For Our Vets: "We need to go into debt to pay our debt to U.S. veterans to make sure they get the care and services we owe them."

Fact: “Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013

WHY? GOOD QUESTION THOSE SERVED SHOULD ANSWER!


Bob Herbert Losing Our Way : "And then the staggering costs of these wars, which are borne by the taxpayers. I mean, one of the things that was insane was that, as we're at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration cut taxes. This has never been done in American history. The idea of cutting taxes while you're going to war is just crazy. I mean, it's madness." Bill 'Moyers and Company': Restoring an America That Has Lost its Way 10 Oct. 2014

Presidential Proclamation -- Veterans Day, 2013: "As we pay tribute to our veterans, we are mindful that no ceremony or parade can fully repay that debt." read more>>>


Under two previous Executive administrations and wars from, father and son. With son and conservative congresses leading the extremely quick abandoning of the missions and those sent to accomplish after 9/11:

ProPublica and The Seattle Times Nov. 9, 2012 - Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans
"DeLara's case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War."

Part Two: A Son Lost in Iraq, but Where Is the Casualty Report?

Army Says War Records Gap Is Real, Launches Recovery Effort

3/27/15 - U.S. Nerve Gas Hit Our Own Troops in Iraq
"During and immediately after the first Gulf War, more than 200,000 of 700,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Kuwait in January 1991 were exposed to nerve gas and other chemical agents. Though aware of this, the Department of Defense and CIA launched a campaign of lies and concocted a cover-up that continues today."
"When Brown and others tried to obtain their medical records to prove their illnesses were service-related, they learned that the records had disappeared."




Add in the issues of finally recognizing in War Theater and more Veterans, by the Shinseki Veterans Administration and the Executive Administrations Cabinet, what the Country choose to ignore from our previous decades and wars of: The devastating effects on Test Vets and from PTS, Agent Orange, Homelessness, more recent the Desert Storm troops Gulf War Illnesses, Gulf War Exposures with the very recent affects from In-Theater Burn Pits and oh so so much more! Tens of Thousands of Veterans' that have been long ignored and maligned by previous VA's and the whole Country and through their representatives!

How does a Country HONOR It's Fallen, by Their Own 'Sacrifice' in Taking Care of the Brothers and Sisters They Served With!!


"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln

"To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan" - President Lincoln

She wrote that she's proud of her service but added this: "That doesn't change the fact that I contributed - however indirectly - to human beings vanishing from the earth in a moment of sheer agony."



Homeless Veterans/Stand Downs

Are You Concerned About a Veteran? The Veterans Crisis Line Can Help>>>

For our sisters: National Women Veterans Hotline, call 1-855-VA-WOMEN1-855-VA-WOMEN (1-855-829-66361-855-829-6636) New Hotline now up and running

Friday, June 22, 2012

More of that 'Freedom is Absolutely Free' for the 98%

There's some one percent that actually serve the country, including their families. There's some probably another one percent that actually try and do what the country won't by starting or participating in organizations specifically set up to help the veterans, some even do regular volunteering at Veterans facilities like hospitals and clinics, and their families in the many issues the country doesn't fund the veterans administration to do or need help in doing. Some in the rest of the 98% give a few bucks, every now and then, and some time to help but not all. As these organizations are in continuing requests of donations, where if successful they should be able to ease those funding needs with public grants.

Slowly, while everyone has quickly moved on from, DeJa-Vu all over again, individual stories on what this generations veterans from these two wars of choice, same as the old, are going through hits as 'real' news. Greater majority of country yawns but for the handfuls that actually really do care and get it, the Sacrifice!

More of that "Freedom is Absolutely Free!" for the some 98% who not only don't serve but refuse to demand they even Sacrifice, those who served or serve don't do so for groups of citizens they serve the whole country, now a decade plus added to the previous decades of underfunding especially at times of cheering on the wars of choice!

Bill Shephard, Unemployed Veteran, Posts Army Medal On eBay And Gets Huge Bid

06/21/2012 - After exhausting his options, one unemployed veteran felt he had no choice but to make a heartbreaking, desperate move.

Bill Shephard, who returned in 2009 from serving in Iraq, put his Army medal up for bid on eBay to help support his wife and three young children. It sold for $5,200 Thursday afternoon.

“I did it out of desperation and frustration,” Shephard, 43, from Woodbury, N.J, told Fox 29. “It was a last resort.”

After his employment benefits ran out last October, neighbors began helping Shephard by hiring him for odd jobs. Still, it wasn't enough, he said. So he posted the medal for sale Monday, prompting not only monetary donations but also offerings of clothes, jobs and more.

Shephard is not alone in his struggle to find employment and support his family. Post-9/11 veteran unemployment hovers at 12.1 percent, compared to 8.3 percent for veterans overall, according to the BLS. read more>>>

The above follows this recent report, just below, on our politics and the non democratic congresses ability to obstruct in playing that politics by filibusters, and not majority vote, 51 - 49 in the Senate and party politics voting in lockstep in the House, in beating down much needed policies for the country.

Food Stamp Cuts Could Hit Military Members, Veterans

They do those congressional politics, especially as they continue saying they have the plans for economic growth, jobs and more, and do nothing or extremely little, after they themselves brought the economy to it's knee's with their politics. Related to veterans for decades now and those they represent love it, in concert with the private sector, who they and the corporate execs want to regulate themselves, corruption and outright criminal activities.

It also follows this, below, the initiatives of one government branch, the only one, that has been ongoing in relation to the military personal, veterans and the families of. This branch doesn't make the policies, that's what the federal congresses do as do the state legislatures where same political games are played not for country but for their brand of political ideology. Nor can they directly place much needed public funding into place in their cabinet agencies without fighting for same to get the policies of those needs through congress, both houses of. They did that a few years back and it worked great, even though the politics not enough was injected into the economy. But the Veterans Administrations relatively small piece of helped advance many issues, even with a certain politics arguing that stimulus didn't work at all, ignored for way to long or could only be attempted with the funds from a long underfunding and with hope they could get more in the coming years to continue fixing the needs, not only for this generations veterans of these two wars but the older generations veterans long discharged from our service and our wars especially.

If you can't get those reagan capitalist 'job creators' to invest in actual economic growth, as free market capitalism was sold would happen, constant economic growth, the trickle down, embarrass them into hiring what they already know they need but still want to hoard that wealth and come up with many excuses for not using those hoarded funds they keep growing on the labors of all, no sharing or as little as possible

More than 5,000 Veterans and Military Spouses Hired in 3 Months

And instead of the country, Support The Troops, and demanding their government representatives Demand the Country finally Sacrifice, especially those wealthy and their growing wealth, they will settle, again DeJa-Vu all over again, for a few hour parade or a same in welcome homes, only a few attending, rest watching news clips after, and waving those flags of their patriotism, the patriotic message posters and of course the words of same and of that support.

The new 'magnetic ribbons'.

Think 'Desert Storm' and 'Gulf War Syndrome', Ignored till the last couple of years, finally helped along with the VA's share of the recovery funds which gave a big enough boost to the underfunding in that budget to at least start the needed help long ignored, after their 'Parades'!

Have the 'Welcome Home Parades', and more, but at each the one word that should be spoke, especially by any political figure speaking to those gathered, and on the minds of All, 'Sacrifice', Demand It, You Owe It!

And in closing and speaking about jobs especially related to veterans the VA is hosting three major events at Detroit’s Cobo Center June 26-29 where the message is Veterans Encouraged to Apply Now for more than 24,000 Jobs Nationwide. You can find more information in the links of the press release if you follow the above link along with more information. Also other recent Press releases at the VA list of. They plan on more, had one in Washington DC not long ago, and there are a couple of groups that have been holding veterans job fairs around the country which local news stations and papers have reported on. These jobs and or the participating companies can be found online. And here's a headsup of one Government initiative announced yesterday, the 21st, from the Department of Transportation pointed at Veterans and their needs in the agency that these veterans are well qualified to fill.


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