{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!

* * * * *
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}
* * * * *

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

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Petraeus/Allen, Sex Scandal, Not! Much Worse for These Recent War Veterans!!

I know, I'm getting a picture in my head of a collective, once again, American Civilian Population Yawn, with a "but sex sells" especially taking place at the top and the media reporters salivate over the stories, can't get enough and many even inject their own spin to make juicier while not having a lick of inside information to back those up.

This is about the same folks, Petraeus and Allen, as well as all the Military and Civilian leaders including possibly some in Congress, sans any titulating sex and scandal, of the past decade plus but especially the earlier years of these two wars as the country supported the abandoning of the main missions for even sending our military into that region with the first drum beat pointed at Iraq thus creating two long running occupations in two countries and raising the hatred level of a whole region, plus much of the World, towards us.

We've been hearing for these past years, and related to the Veterans of these two wars, the continued backlog of claims as, once again, the soldier comes home and joins our community of past military veterans, especially our war and occupation theater vets, only to once again, for far too many, be placed on long holds or even denied their much needed veterans care which is the responsibility from the whole country served.

And who gets the blame for the growing backlogs why the peoples responsibility the decades long under funded, while we wage wars, Veterans Administration and in the last four years the Obama Administration. Just watch or listen to a Veterans Affairs Committee Hearing, Senate or House, or read/listen to the media reports. In the Committee's they'll usually open with lines from the peoples representatives, if those testifying are from the VA, something like "we are here today to find out how we can help you", only to quickly go on the attack when in question and answer mode often not even letting answers be heard, especially if they've got so called conservative leanings, at those testifying. It's a long running tactic, make the agencies constantly look as bad as possible, keep under funded so problems arise, so the privatization of looks better and better, never once comparing in their attacks to the similar in the private sector.

ProPublica did another stellar report not long back, like put to print only a couple of days before the, but for a few, American public waved their flags for this years Veterans Day.

Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans

This is from their sidebar notes on this report:

Nov. 9, 2012 - Over the last decade, millions of military field records from Iraq and Afghanistan have been lost or destroyed, making it difficult for some soldiers to prove their combat experiences and obtain medical benefits or other veteran awards and services. Our reporting found a few reasons behind the problem:

System failure: In a string of critical reports, historians said Army units were losing their own history by failing to keep adequate field records. The U.S. military began relying on computer records during the Gulf War, introducing major gaps in recordkeeping as the old-style paper system fell apart. The Army then introduced a centralized system for collecting electronic field reports, but units have failed to submit records there.

Security concerns: Some military commanders ordered units to purge computer hard drives before redeploying to the United States, destroying any classified field records they contained.

Leadership: Disagreements among military officials have also led to lack of coordination in record-keeping. “The Army would say it’s Centcom’s responsibility... Centcom would say it’s an Army responsibility,” said one Archivist. Recordkeeping took a backseat to wartime demands: “Something just had to fall off the plate, there was so much going on,” a former Centcom records manager said. read the report>>>

Thing is the media that has reported on this report, very very few what with the sex and well ya know, are doing the tepublicans work and laying blame at the doorstep of the Veterans Administration, even Rachel Maddow in a report last night, 12 November 2012, seemed to be calling for Obama to change the Agency leadership and get rid of Gen Shinseki. Who is Actually, along with the Administration it's Cabinet and those around Finally getting things done, some accomplished finally in the 110th and 111th Congress, even while the Country still has not stepped up and Demanded they Sacrifice as to the results of these two wars, a decade plus added to the previous decades. I sent Rachel an e-mail this morning probably to be ignored as were comments I posted on her shows blog about when she reports on the lack of a 'National Welcome Home Parade'. I know she means well but she's got it all wrong. Did point out to her that since going on a national outlet TV show she's entered a much higher income and thus one of the much lower tax burdens of that compensation, meaning she isn't giving her fair share as to the results of these wars, like everyone else at those levels and above but even the lower income levels many of which supported, again, these wars.

The ProPublica report was brought to the TV media last night, not on a National Cable outlet but once again the peoples outlet the PBS NewsHour.

AIR DATE: Nov. 12, 2012 Veterans Face Uphill Battle for Benefits When Field Records Are Lost, Destroyed

SUMMARY "History is the last thing we care about during war, and the last thing we think about when we get home," says ProPublica's Peter Sleeth, who talks to Jeffrey Brown about the challenges facing veterans who need access to benefits but whose records have been wiped out. Transcript>>>

Watch Veterans Face Benefits Battle When Field Records Are Lost on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

My reaction since the report first surfaced is one question about this is what were the bush administration and DoD of, as well as possibly many in congress rubber stamping these wars, trying to further hide from not only the present eyes of actual investigative journalist and thus the people but also the historians, that didn't come out publicly already and to their great displeasure as they created even more hatreds towards us and not just what our government does 'In Our Names' but we don't know about till years later, if at all!!

Another is, were these records being actually kept by Military personal or the many no bid civilian contractors, doing or looking over the military personals shoulders, that that administration embedded, at extremely high cost all rubber stamped and borrowed off the books till the present administration and all still being added daily to the deficit that started rising Before 9/11, as they tied to privatize for even greater returns these wars, or at least as much as they could get away with!

Even Democracy Now carried the conservative memes and blame.

Exposé: Veterans Administration Battles Backlog of Claims for Wounded Soldiers

Called "Accuracy isn’t priority as VA battles disability claims backlog," the report reveals how thousands of veterans have been denied disability benefits as a result of errors by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Obama, while also taking the heat on this even though he actually got a big boost to the VA budget even with the obstructionist wanting to cut and still are, mentioned the backlog at Arlington on Veterans Day.

President Obama Marks Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery

And low and behold the political slam, passed from one media outlet through another:

For example, as reported by the Washington Post the administration has made it easier for veterans to file claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the backlog of pending disability claims has more than doubled since Obama took office in 2009.

My bolding.

Nobody looks in the mirror and says "hey wait a minute, we've had two more wars, we've asked our Military and their Families to Sacrifice for over a decade now and we haven't Sacrificed a Dime that whole time", nor anything else.

The under funding has gone on for decades, along with ignoring what veterans of our previous war and occupation theaters were saying, which creates problems which in turn causes costs to fix much much more then if the Agency was kept up to the times with only needing the normal maintenance in all area's of plus any added advanced technologies, i.e. one area record keeping with modern and up to date now computers and already built programs.

What this report from ProPublica points to is a whole nother layer, and a huge scandal not only for the veterans but the historians, of why there is a growing backlog as one war was ended and the other main missions of are winding down with more coming home and more joining the veterans ranks, and it started as these wars did and continued along same!


No comments:

Post a Comment