Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Uproar over VA has no teeth if we forget again

Paul Rieckhoff said ”People knew this was going on. If you weren’t outraged, you weren’t paying attention.” and he is right however he failed to mention how long it has been going on. Rieckhoff said that he thinks an OEF or OIF veteran should run the VA in other articles. Disabled veterans have headed the VA before, including Ret. General Eric Shinseki. The problem does not just fall on the shoulders of the head of the VA or any given President. The problem is with all of the members of all the Congresses responsible "To care for him who shall of borne the battle and for his widows and orphans" which is the motto of the VA based on what President Lincoln had to say.

Afghanistan and Iraq veterans have made the news lately however the majority of the veterans in the claim backlog, waiting for promised care, have been Vietnam veterans. They're suffering, waiting and fighting but they are also the majority of the suicides. That says a lot. It says that after all these years, after decades of fighting for all veterans, no matter which party was in control, they were not cared for enough.

Another factor left out of all of this is the care veterans receives actually depends more on where they live than anything else.
Could a Post 9/11 Veteran Revolutionize the VA?
ABC News
By Erin Dooley
Jun 2, 2014

President Obama should choose a post-9/11 vet, or at least someone “extremely familiar” with the community, to replace Eric Shinseki as Veterans Affairs Secretary, a veterans advocacy group insisted today.

“We are the growing need. We are the future,” Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) CEO Paul Rieckhoff said. “We’re not a problem, we are the solution.”

A post-9/11 vet with a thorough understanding of technology could “turn the VA from Borders into Amazon,” better serving the growing number of vets struggling with complex injuries such as traumatic brain injury, he said.

The 200,000-member organization in its 10th year outlined an 8-point plan today to help get the beleaguered VA back on track.

In addition to seeking leadership, Rieckhoff said the VA’s current IT system — which includes the scandal-plagued scheduling system that left veterans waiting months for appointments — is “woefully outdated.”

“And the backlog itself is scandalous,” he continued. “The fact that it got that bad and took that much to get the country to act is, in our opinion, scandalous as well.”

Rieckhoff, himself a veteran of the Iraq war, called for increased presidential leadership, and criticized Obama for his “slow response” to the wait time scandal, which surfaced weeks ago when a whistleblower alleged that hospital executives had been cooking the books to maintain a façade of efficiency.

“It shouldn’t have taken four weeks for the president to respond,” Rieckhoff said. ”People knew this was going on. If you weren’t outraged, you weren’t paying attention.”
read more here


In 2013 they knew there were problems.
Internal Veterans Affairs Department documents show that at least two veterans died last year waiting to see a doctor while others couldn’t get primary care appointments for up to eight months, members of a House oversight and investigations panel said Thursday.

Addressing the ongoing problem of vets who suffer through long waits for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics, House lawmakers joined federal investigators and veterans service organizations in castigating VA on an issue that has endured for more than a decade.

“Evidence shows that many VA facilities, when faced with a backlog of thousands of outstanding or unresolved consultations, decided to administratively close out these requests. Some reasons given included that the request was years old, too much time had elapsed, or the veteran had died,” said Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., chairman of the House Veterans Oversight and Investigations panel.

“This is unacceptable,” said Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., the panel’s ranking Democrat. “Veterans deserve timely, accessible health care.”

Disabled Veteran Says Get Out and Live During Valor Games

Disabled Kinston Veteran Competes In Valor Games
WITN News
Jun 02, 2014

A disabled Veteran from Kinston is sharing his story of success and hoping to inspire others along the way.

Former Army Sergeant Jason Posey competed in the Southeastern Valor Games held in Durham recently.

He took home three silver medals and a bronze in sports like archery, rowing, and cycling.

The Valor Games are a paralympic style competition for disabled Veterans and wounded active duty service members.

Posey is a former Army Sergeant who suffered a neck fracture while serving in Iraq.
read more here

Afghanistan Veteran Double Amputee Re-injured in Car Accident

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT: AFGHANISTAN WAR VET – DOUBLE AMPUTEE RE-INJURED HERE AT HOME

The Memorial Day holiday is celebrated by all, but really is most relevant for those who’ve served, and those who have been marked forever for their bravery. Here is a touching story of one decorated Afghanistan war vet, a double amputee, who was re-injured here at home, and turned to the law firm of Steinger, Iscoe and Greene for help.

On a spring morning in 2013, this 22-year old corporal suffered drastic injuries when an 89-year old driver collided into his vehicle while attempting to cross 3 lanes of traffic. Her negligence not only caused considerable damage to his vehicle, but also triggered a relapse of his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD syndrome had begun to plague him 2 years earlier, about the time an IED explosion cost him both of his legs during active duty in Afghanistan.
read more here

Monday, June 2, 2014

VA Crisis sky needs to fall on more heads

There has never been a time when veterans were properly cared for and the worst thing is that most of them, no matter what happened afterwards, they would still do it all over again. Think about that. They cared that much and still do. So what's our problem? We forget what happened last time we were down the crisis road heading off to the abyss. Blaming the head of the VA did nothing to fix the problems because we blamed others before. This is yet on more VA Crisis but the sky falling on one head misses the point.

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chair Jeff Miller said
When mismanagement and negligence of this scale go essentially unpunished, it sends a message of cold, hard indifference to veterans seeking care at the VA, as well as the hundreds of thousands of dedicated department employees who go to work every day trying to do the right thing.
He's right but then again there has been a very extensive history of this kind of thing going on.

Bonus money after problems found before? Sure. In the following case it was a matter of life and death back then too. Veterans were being turned away but as you will read it was a matter of no one planning for two wars creating more veterans in need of care afterwards.
Months after a politically embarrassing $1 billion shortfall that put veterans' health care in peril, Veterans Affairs officials involved in the foul-up got hefty bonuses ranging up to $33,000.

The list of bonuses to senior career officials at the Veterans Affairs Department in 2006, obtained by The Associated Press, documents a generous package of more than $3.8 million in payments by a financially strapped agency straining to help care for thousands of injured veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among those receiving payments were a deputy assistant secretary and several regional directors who crafted the VA's flawed budget for 2005 based on misleading accounting. They received performance payments up to $33,000 each, a figure equal to about 20 percent of their annual salaries.

Also receiving a top bonus was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who helps manage a disability claims system that has a backlog of cases and delays averaging 177 days in getting benefits to injured veterans.

The bonuses were awarded even after government investigators had determined the VA repeatedly miscalculated — if not deliberately misled taxpayers — with questionable methods used to justify Bush administration cuts to health care amid a burgeoning Iraq war.

Annual bonuses to senior VA officials now average more than $16,000 — the most lucrative in government.

The VA said the payments are necessary to retain hardworking career officials.

Several watchdog groups questioned the practice. They cited short-staffing and underfunding at VA clinics that have become particularly evident after recent disclosures of shoddy outpatient treatment of injured troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

"Hundreds of thousands of our veterans remain homeless every day, and hundreds of thousands more veterans wait six months or more for VA disability claim decisions," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "The lavish amounts of VA bonus cash would be better spent on a robust plan to cut VA red tape."
In July 2005, the VA stunned Congress by suddenly announcing it faced a $1 billion shortfall after failing to take into account the additional cost of caring for veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The admission, months after the department insisted it was operating within its means and did not need additional money, drew harsh criticism from both parties and some calls for Nicholson's resignation.

The investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, determined the VA had used misleading accounting methods and claimed false savings of more than $1.3 billion, apparently because President Bush was not willing, at the time, to ask Congress for more money.

According to the White House Office of Personnel Management, roughly three of every four senior officials at the VA have received some kind of bonus each year. In recent years, the payment amount has steadily increased from being one of the lowest in government — $8,120 in 2002 — to the most generous — $16,713 in 2005.
VA e-mail: Save money, do not diagnose PTSD but James Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs at the time had this response.

"A single staff member, out of VA's 230,000 employees, in a single medical facility sent a single e-mail with suggestions that are inappropriate and have been repudiated at the highest level of our health-care organization," he said. "The employee has been counseled and is extremely apologetic."

PTSD Opinion pass off as fact, again

I was just reading on The Blaze a story by Virginia Kruta "The Real VA Scandal The The Key Services They Don’t Even Pretend to Provide claiming the VA does not address anger in PTSD patients. WOW! Just because she says so then it must be true? Right? No. Ok let me clarify that with "Hell no!"

Orlando VA for example has telephone triage topped off with a system that calls everyday to cover topics with veterans electronically to evaluate conditions daily. Frustrating at times but easy to get through and most of the time the topic of the day is anger management. The recording address making daily tasks, diet-nutrition and other things that can be done along with questions to evaluate the conditions the veteran is experiencing on a daily basis. If the veteran does not answer or return the call, they receive a follow-up call.

After that claim the nest was that anger never goes away. That one is totally wrong because anger does in fact go away for the most part and whatever is left can be dealt with by countering the anger fueled by PTSD.
"But in someone who suffers from PTSD, that anger never really goes away. That person is stuck in a holding pattern that stores that explosive anger right below the surface."

I've seen it for the last 30 years with the right kind of care addressing the body-mind-spirit connection anger is no longer in control of anything. Plus I live with it on a daily basis.

This is directly tied back to the DOD and their Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, producing the same notion Battlemind did that they could train their brains to be tough enough to prevent PTSD. In other words the DOD has been telling them year after year it is their fault and they are weak minded.
"For about two years, he struggled with getting recognition and care because he had an “invisible” injury. Without the extensive letter writing campaign by Moose’s father, David McArthur (local small business owner and occasional Fox News contributor), Moose and many other soldiers with “invisible” injuries would still be fighting to receive the Purple Hearts they deserve. Other soldiers called him “yellow” and “stupid” and accused him of faking his injuries."

There is so much that is being forgotten about because no one seems to want to research what has been done since the 70's. Yes, since the 70's but even though they seem to always bring up Vietnam veterans they never manage to be able to bring up the fact these veterans are not only responsible for everything available on PTSD right now, they are proof that life goes on even after PTSD tried to get full control. That they were able to not just heal but help others during a time when no one had a computer. They did it all because they never gave up on the rest of us no matter how we treated them.

This is no where near the scandal the author wanted to pass on. Readers of Wounded Times know what the real one is and that it we have not lived up to taking care of our veterans for generations and we won't come close until people with the platform know what they are talking about.

What happened to leave no one behind?

During the Revolutionary War, POWs were swapped. During the Civil War, POWs were swapped. It happened after WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

142 Men Seem In Reasonably Good Health
Col. Robinson Risner of the Air Force, senior prisoner on the second plane, said; "It's almost too wonderful to express. On behalf of all the other men who have been prisoners, I would like to thank you all. I would like to thank our President and the American people for bringing us home to freedom again. Thank you ever so much."

And Capt. James A. Mulligan of the Navy, senior officer and spokesman on the third plane from Hanoi, said, "It has been our privilege to serve you Americans these many years and during this time our faith in our God, our country and in our families had never wavered. Today I'd like to thank the President of the United States and our families for maintaining their faith with us and making this wonderful day possible. Thank you."
Roger E. Shields, the Pentagon's prisoner-of-was expert, who also went to Hanoi for the pick-up, said he was satisfied with today's operation even though it was delayed two hours by bad weather in the North and more than 12 hours by disputes in the South. He said the prisoners from Hanoi "said they have some things they want to tell us and they are very concerned about giving us information on other prisoners on our lists." Some 1,300 Americans are listed as missing in action.

On the first flight to the Clark base, Captain Denton said, he told the men that on arrival he intended to salute the flag and fellow officers and to shake hands with military dignitaries there to greet them - Adm. Noel A. M. Gayler, Commander in Chief of United States forces in the Pacific, and Lieut. Gen. William G. Moore Jr., commander of the 13th Air Force. He said that he did not tell the men they also had to do so, but that each did.

When the planeload of 27 prisoners from South Vietnam landed late tonight, completing the pick-up, Col. Leonard W. Johnson Jr., commander of the evacuation mission into Saigon, turned to Roger Shields of the Pentagon and said, "Well, we got them back."

John McCain was a POW. John McCain was released. John McCain turned out to be a politician and forgot about being a veteran a long time ago.
US defends captive swap with Taliban for Bergdahl; critics stir
The Associated Press
By LOLITA C. BALDOR and CALVIN WOODWARD
Published: June 1, 2014

WASHINGTON — Five years a captive from the Afghanistan war, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is back in American hands, freed for five Guantanamo terrorism detainees in a swap stirring sharp debate in Washington over whether the U.S. should have negotiated with the Taliban over prisoners.

U.S. officials said Sunday that Bergdahl's health and safety appeared in jeopardy, prompting rapid action to secure his release. Republicans said the deal could place U.S. troops in danger, especially if the freed detainees return to the fight — one called it "shocking." Another, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said of the five detainees: "These are the hardest of the hard core."

Visiting troops in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Hagel stepped forward at Bagram Air Field to thank the special operations forces that retrieved Bergdahl, who officials said was the only American prisoner of war still held by insurgents in that conflict. Gen. Joseph Dunford spoke of the excitement that spread through U.S. ranks when the sergeant's release was confirmed. "You almost got choked up," he said. "It was pretty extraordinary."
read more here


UPDATE
The day got stranger and stranger so I decided to keep on this topic for a little while more.

Remember the Gulf War? Remember there were POWs held by Saddam? Well, they filed a lawsuit back against Saddam but the case was tossed out.
2005-04-26 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- American pilots and soldiers who were taken prisoner and tortured by the Iraqis during the Persian Gulf War of 1991 have lost their legal bid to hold Iraq liable, as the Supreme Court turned away their final appeal Monday.

The justices heeded the advice of the Bush administration and let stand an appeals court ruling that threw out a nearly $1 billion verdict won by the prisoners of war two years ago.

The high court's refusal to hear the case spares the administration from having to go before the justices to argue against American POWs who were tortured. The 17 former POWs had sued Iraq and the government of Saddam Hussein under the terms of a 1996 anti-terrorism law that opened the courthouse door to claims from Americans who had been injured or tortured at the hands of "state sponsors of terror."


Still Fighting, Senator Pushes Bush To Release Money To POWs From 1st Gulf War

What else happened was there was a prisoner exchange to get back our 35 POWs.

6 March
At D + 49, in a prisoner exchange, 35 released Prisoners of War transit from Baghdad to Riyadh, 294 Iraqi Enemy Prisoners of War transit to Baghdad. U.S. POWs are transferred to USNS MERCY for medical treatment.

DOD announces cease-fire is holding, no incidents. Information exchange on location of land and sea mines continues. Mine clearing and equipment-collecting sweeps continue. To-date. 3.700 Iragi tanks. 2.400+ armored personnel carriers. and 2.600+ artillery pieces have been destroyed. damaged or captured.

Elements of 1st Marine Division withdraw from Kuwait to defensive positions in Saudi Arabia, 2d Marine Division shifts into 1st Marine Division's former positions.

Naval forces continue to conduct defensive counter-air operations to protect U.S. fleet, combat air patrols, maritime interceptions and minesweeping to clear A1 Ashwaba and other mined Kuwaiti ports. USS NEW ORLEANS (LPH 11), an embarked mine countermeasures squadron and four mine countermeasures ships, are leading minesweeping activities, aided by ships from UK, Holland and Belgium.

Three Tour Iraq Veteran Murdered on Memorial Day

Local veteran laid to rest after Memorial Day murder
FOX34
Reported by: Sydney Ryan
June 1, 2014
"She met this guy on Friday, he killed her Monday," claimed Quintana. "I just want justice for my daughter."

It was standing room only as a local soldier was laid to rest. Veteran Vanessa Lyn Alcorte was a resident of Lubbock and served in the US Army for 11 years, completing three tours in Iraq.

"If you ask her for a glass of water, she will give it to you. you ask her for the clothes on her back, she will give it to you," said mother Graciala Quintana. "She went and fought overseas, but she couldn't survive her own city."

"She was an amazing mom, an amazing friend," said one of Alcorte's former roommates and friends Mary Vasquez.

"Vanessa was an amazing person and a lot of people didn't get to see that side of her, but she was a strong person, she was a mother, she loved her life," added another friend Samantha Hardeman.

The body of the 32-year-old was found Monday evening in a car behind a mobile home park in north Lubbock. Lubbock Police Sergeant Jason Lewis said LPD received the initial calls about shots being fired at approximately 6:30 pm. The police dispatch recording reveals a man was believed to have shot a gun at a woman, and proceeded to "beat her up in the middle of the street". Police received a tip identifying Matthew Torrez as the suspected killer.
read more here

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Everyday exactly the same while veterans wait

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 1, 2014

"My view was, if we spend billions and billions and billions of dollars of getting young women and men in harm's way, we will have to spend what it takes to get them back in as normal a life as possible, whatever it takes. And I think that is where we are coming from."
Bob Dole said that in 2007 during his testament "Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors"
June 1st but it feels more like Groundhog day.
"What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?"
(Bill Murray Groundhog Day)

While it is astonishing how many people are trying to actually do something to take care of our veterans it seems as if no matter how hard we fight for them, none of it really matters enough. None of it comes close to what they did for all of us.

With the passing years of tracking veterans reports it is horrifying to arrive at this point in time where all the bad stories increased and hopeful stories decreased. It wouldn't be so bad if no one was doing anything but with so many doing so much it seems pretty hopeless at times. It will remain so until members of congress are holding themselves as well as others accountable. Elections are supposed to have consequences but they really don't. It doesn't matter what party takes control of any of the bodies as long as the bodies in the chairs are not held accountable by everyone.

The following story from Frost Illustrated has a long gone link but after reviewing more of the over 22,000 posts on Wounded Times, I thought it would clarify a few things for readers.

This story has it all. Walter Reed Hospital, PTSD, fee-based VA care and how the congress has skillfully avoided taking responsibility for anything.

Veteran good enough to fight, get wounded, but not good enough for congresswoman to meet
For a time, he lived in Maryland, where he met with congressional representatives there, before moving officially to Washington, D.C., where he's organized protests in front of the White House. But in a bit of bitter irony, Evans said he hasn't gotten any support from his Washington representative-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who like Evans, is black. According to Evans, he's been trying to get a meeting with Norton for about a year and has received no word back.

"I'm good enough to fight for our country and get wounded, but I'm not good enough to meet with my congresswoman," said Evans.
FORT WAYNE-More than a decade ago, U.S. Army veteran John Evans was trying to alert the nation to a serious healthcare crisis when it came to treating military men who had served their nation admirably in times of war. He largely was ignored. Now with recent startling and embarrassing revelations about conditions and treatment at once-highly regarded military healthcare facilities such as Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., Evans finally is being vindicated by many who once tried to ignore him-including some politicians. But, rather than retiring from the fight, Evans is planning to step up his battle to find justice for veterans. That includes organizing a public protest for Sept. 5 through Sept. 7 in front of the Federal Building, 1300 S. Harrison St.-right here in Fort Wayne, where it all began.

In 1994, Evans, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who said he had been declared 100 percent disabled due to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, woke up to find his world had collapsed around him. His veteran's benefits mysteriously had disappeared leaving him unable to pay his bills and his bank account had been closed. After frantically calling the Veterans Administration and the bank, Evans discovered that he mistakenly had been declared dead by the Social Security Administration, which had confused him with his son, John Patrick Logan, who had passed away. According to Evans, it was two months before he received a letter informing him that he had been-mistakenly-declared dead. During that time, stress began to mount until he suffered a severe heart attack.

The situation went from bad to worse. While having the heart attack, Evans instructed his brother to take him to Parkview Hospital on Randallia Drive-just blocks away from the local Veterans Administration Medical Center on Lake Avenue. Evans said he made the decision to be taken there because he knew the VA didn't have the facilities for critical heart care and credits that decision-along with doctors, he said-with saving his life through emergency bypass surgery. But, not having a fee–based medical card, which allows veterans to seek care from private sources under various circumstances, the Veterans Administration refused to pay his hospital bills, leaving Evans under even more stress.

We hear a lot about this politician or that politician pushing this bill or that bill but there has not been one single member holding any other member accountable for the lousy job their have done all these years. It is pretty pathetic to look back at what has been going on all along and see, we're right back where we started. What is worst is to look back and see that it is even worse than where we started. The above report was posted in 2007.

It was during a time when Democrats controlled but the President was George W. Bush. Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was Daniel Akaka. He was begging President Bush to sign Wounded Warrior Assistance Act and nominate someone to become Secretary of Veterans Affairs after Jim Nicholson resigned.

The bill had it all.
TITLE I--WOUNDED WARRIOR MATTERS
SEC. 101. GENERAL DEFINITIONS.
Subtitle A--Policy on Care, Management, and Transition of Servicemembers With Serious Injuries or Illnesses
SEC. 112. CONSIDERATION OF NEEDS OF WOMEN MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS.

Subtitle B--Health Care
PART I--ENHANCED AVAILABILITY OF CARE FOR SERVICEMEMBERS
SEC. 121. MEDICAL CARE AND OTHER BENEFITS FOR MEMBERS AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES WITH SEVERE INJURIES OR ILLNESSES.
PART II--CARE AND SERVICES FOR DEPENDENTS
PART III--TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
SEC. 132. IMPROVEMENT OF MEDICAL TRACKING SYSTEM FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES DEPLOYED OVERSEAS.
SEC. 134. REVIEW OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND TREATMENT FOR FEMALE MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS.
SEC. 136. REPORTS.
PART IV--OTHER MATTERS
SEC. 141. JOINT ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

Subtitle C--Disability Matters
PART I--DISABILITY EVALUATIONS
`Sec. 1216a. Determinations of disability: requirements and limitations on determinations
`Sec. 1554a. Review of separation with disability rating of 20 percent disabled or less
SEC. 154. PILOT PROGRAMS ON REVISED AND IMPROVED DISABILITY EVALUATION SYSTEM FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.
SEC. 155. REPORTS ON ARMY ACTION PLAN IN RESPONSE TO DEFICIENCIES IN THE ARMY PHYSICAL DISABILITY EVALUATION SYSTEM.
PART II--OTHER DISABILITY MATTERS
SEC. 161. ENHANCEMENT OF DISABILITY SEVERANCE PAY FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.
SEC. 162. TRAUMATIC SERVICEMEMBERS' GROUP LIFE INSURANCE.
SEC. 164. ASSESSMENTS OF TEMPORARY DISABILITY RETIRED LIST.
Subtitle D--Improvement of Facilities Housing Patients
SEC. 172. REPORTS ON ARMY ACTION PLAN IN RESPONSE TO DEFICIENCIES IDENTIFIED AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER.
SEC. 173. CONSTRUCTION OF FACILITIES REQUIRED FOR THE CLOSURE OF WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Subtitle E--Outreach and Related Information on Benefits
SEC. 181. HANDBOOK FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES ON COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS AVAILABLE FOR SERIOUS INJURIES AND ILLNESSES.
Subtitle F--Other Matters

TITLE II--VETERANS MATTERS
SEC. 202. INDIVIDUAL REHABILITATION AND COMMUNITY REINTEGRATION PLANS FOR VETERANS AND OTHERS WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.
`Sec. 1710C. Traumatic brain injury: plans for rehabilitation and reintegration into the community
`Sec. 1710D. Traumatic brain injury: use of non-Department facilities for rehabilitation
SEC. 204. RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND CLINICAL CARE PROGRAM ON SEVERE TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.
`Sec. 7330A. Severe traumatic brain injury research, education, and clinical care program
SEC. 205. PILOT PROGRAM ON ASSISTED LIVING SERVICES FOR VETERANS WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.
SEC. 206. RESEARCH ON TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.
SEC. 207. AGE-APPROPRIATE NURSING HOME CARE.
SEC. 208. EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF ELIGIBILITY FOR HEALTH CARE FOR COMBAT SERVICE IN THE PERSIAN GULF WAR OR FUTURE HOSTILITIES.
SEC. 209. MENTAL HEALTH: SERVICE-CONNECTION STATUS AND EVALUATIONS FOR CERTAIN VETERANS.
SEC. 211. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM ON PREVENTING VETERANS AT-RISK OF HOMELESSNESS FROM BECOMING HOMELESS
SEC. 212. CLARIFICATION OF PURPOSE OF THE OUTREACH SERVICES PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

TITLE III
SEC. 301. FISCAL YEAR 2008 INCREASE IN MILITARY BASIC PAY.
The Congressional Budget Office review of the cost in 2008 found this legislation would cost $25 million in 2008 and $5.3 billion from 2009 to 2013 in discretionary costs.

This was President Bush's response to the bill.
Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1538 - Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007
March 27, 2007
STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
(House Rules)
(Rep. Skelton (D) Missouri and 28 cosponsors)

The Administration endorses the goals of the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007 but believes that this legislation is premature. The President established the Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors and the Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes to help ensure the most effective utilization of resources to provide the highest quality of care to those who served in the Global War on Terror. It would be preferable for Congress to wait for the recommendations of this Commission and Task Force - scheduled to report no later than July 31 - before legislating.

Furthermore, H.R. 1538 raises some concerns, including an objectionable provision that would impose a broad one-year moratorium on the initiation of new public-private competitions involving any function at any military medical facility. The Department of Defense should retain the full range of management tools to improve services at military medical facilities. The tailored application of competition at select military medical facilities allows the Department to use its full continuum of military, civilian, and contractor resources to ensure better operations, better quality accessible care to its patients, and optimal readiness and deployment capabilities. Numerous Administration reports provided to Congress on competitive sourcing issued over the past several years have documented the significant savings and improved management practices that have been achieved by the responsible use of public-private competition. For example, competitions completed over the last four years are expected to generate more than $6 billion in savings over the next 10 years.

The Administration looks forward to working with Congress on this bill as it moves forward and as the results of the Commission and Task Force become known.

This was the findings of that commission.
The first is to improve access to care for servicemembers with post-traumatic stress disorder. We call on Congress to authorize the VA to provide lifetime treatment for PTSD for any veteran deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in need of such services. This presumptive eligibility for the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD should occur regardless of the length of time that has transpired since the exposure to combat events.

The current conflicts involve intense urban fighting, often against civilian combatants, and many servicemembers witness or experience acts of terrorism. Five hundred thousand servicemembers have been deployed multiple times. The longer servicemembers are in the field, they are more likely to experience events which can lead to symptoms of PTSD. The consequences of PTSD can be devastating. The VA is a recognized leader in the treatment of combat-related PTSD, with an extensive network of specialized inpatient, outpatient, day hospital, and residential treatment programs. Therefore, we ask that any veteran of the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts be able to obtain prompt access to the VA's extensive resources for diagnosis and treatment.

Next, we ask Congress to strengthen the support for our military families. In our travels across the country, it has become abundantly clear that we not only need to help the severely injured, we need to help their loved ones as well. These loved ones are often on the frontlines of care and they are in desperate need of support. Therefore, we call upon Congress to make servicemembers with combat related injuries eligible for respite care and aide and personal attendant benefits. These benefits are provided in the current Extended Care Health Option program under TRICARE.

Presently, DoD provides no other benefit for caregiving. Yet we know that many families are caring for their injured servicemember at home, and many of these servicemembers have complex injuries. These families, forced into stressful new situations, don't need more anxiety and confusion. They need support. Families are unprepared to provide 24/7 care. Those that try, wear out quickly. By providing help for the caregiver, families can better deal with the stress and problems that arise when caring for a loved one with complex injuries in their homes.

We also recommended that Congress amend the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to extend unpaid leave from 12 weeks to up to 6 months for a family member of a servicemember who has a combat-related injury and meets the other FMLA eligibility requirements. According to initial findings of research conducted by the Commission, approximately two-thirds of injured servicemembers reported that their family members or their close friends stayed with them for an extended time while they were hospitalized; one in five had to give up their job to do so. That is simply unacceptable.

Getting family members to the bedside of an injured servicemember is not a problem. The services have developed effective procedures to make this happen, and the private sector has stepped up to provide temporary housing. Because most injured servicemembers recover quickly and return to duty, a family member's stay may be short. However, for those whose loved one has incurred complex injuries, the stay may last much longer. Extending the Family and Medical Leave Act for these families will make a tremendous difference in the quality of their lives. Congress enacted the initial Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993, when I was Secretary of Health and Human Services. Since then, its provisions have provided over 60 million workers the opportunity to care for their family members when they need it most. We have tremendous experience and evidence with that Act. All of these family members have been able to care for a family member without losing their jobs.

We were pleased to see the Senate has already unanimously passed the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act which implements this particular recommendation. We hope that the House will quickly follow suit.

You can read the rest of what was said during this hearing from the link above.

There have been so many hearings, so many bills that it is hard to keep track of what was passed and what was just a replacement for something else some other politician pushed, but in the end the result is no much was accomplished no matter who was in the chair.

We've them come into office and leave only to be replaced by someone else we believed in. We discovered sooner more often than later that what they said is not what they ended up doing. We've heard promise after promise followed by claim after claim that veterans were their priority.

So how is it that none of them have even had to be held accountable for the results? Presidents appoint their cabinet secretaries and the VA is no different however when things go wrong in the VA, that head rolls even though congress is supposed to be paying attention all along.

As you read the above, all the troubles veteran had in 2007 were repeats of what happened for decades before and years afterwards. You may have read this political talking head cheer with the latest resignation but the truth is we've been down this road too many times before.

Keep all of this in mind as yet another election approaches and reporters try to push one person over another. So far, few reporters have bothered to discover how things got this bad for our veterans. As with most things, replacements are not always better than the original. More often than not, the replacement has a higher price tag with a pretty bow but you'll still have to toss out the empty box.

The bill was "Incorporated into the FY 2008 Defense Authorization, which was signed into law on January 28, 2008" Suicides, attempted suicides in the military and veterans community have gone up. No accident Wounded Times started in 2007 since that is when most of the "efforts" started to take care of our military folks but everyday since then they wake up wondering if what they did for us mattered enough.

Vietnam Veteran says "Our patriotism has never waned."

Vietnam War vet uses Internet to connect and share stories with comrades
Ocala.com
By Andy Fillmore
Correspondent
Published: Saturday, May 31, 2014

Vietnam War veteran Scott Henry has a special connection with artist Lee Teter's work "Vietnam Reflections," which hangs in his home.

The picture depicts a man in civilian clothes, deep in emotion, leaning on the outside of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall with a vision of a squad of combat weary soldiers staring back at him. A soldier inside the wall appears to put his hand up to meet that of the visitor.

"It's very emotional to visit the wall. I have three friends from my hometown on it," said Henry, 67, who regularly visits the memorial.

Henry was with the III Marine Amphibious Force, 3rd Military Police Battalion, Delta Company Armed Forces Police in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1968 and 1969.

He said he was greeted with a nasty homecoming in San Francisco, where insults like "baby killer" were hurled at him as the 21-year-old Navy veteran traveled to his native Winneconne, Wisconsin, where he received a warm welcome.

"We all came back and put the Vietnam War far from our consciousness. As we've grown older we are looking back."

"Our patriotism has never waned," he said.
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Chicago Theif Stole From Deployed Marines

Marines Return From Overseas to Ransacked Home
“It just sucked to come home to,” Cpl. Adam Resseguie said
NBC Chicago
By Alexandria Fisher
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Adam Resseguie, of Fox River Grove, Illinois, had been deployed since September 2013.

The Marine Scout Sniper returned from Afghanistan on Memorial Day weekend to learn that thousands of dollars worth of his belongings were missing from a North Carolina home where he had them stored.

Before leaving for Afghanistan, Resseguie said he stored his possessions at the home of Cpl. Ryan Glass, a fellow Marine who was also set to deploy around the same time.

While the two were gone they asked a neighbor to look after the home and their belongings. During their time abroad, the two were notified by the neighbor that the home was ransacked and several of their belongings taken.

"[My neighbor] sent me pictures on Facebook and I just see everything in my house is just broken, stuff is missing around my house," Glass said.

They said a man who had been renting a room at the neighbor's residence for at least a year stole Glass' key and took their belongings.

A North Carolina police detective familiar with the case confirmed that the suspect is listed as “wanted” but could not offer any further details surrounding the case. The detective declined to be named for this story because of the ongoing investigation.
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