Military Veterans will get one chance to vote for the new Commander-in-Chief on November 4th. One chance to have their say in how their benefits will be for the next four years and maybe long beyond that. One voice to give Washington direction as to what YOU want out of the Veterans Administration in the form of health care and support, benefits, compensation for service connected injuries and illnesses, rehabilitation, prosthetics, hearing, vision and dental and family benefits. Those things you and fellow military fought, suffered and died for the right to have!
Only one man in the running has the slightest clue what the military is all about and his name is John McCain. For want of a better description, and for brevity, John McCain has "been there and done that." He has been a warrior, a POW, a Senator and a proponent of veterans' rights. His opponent in this election, Senator Obama, has never served this country's armed forces, never been in combat, is a fledgling politician and doesn't know a damned thing about being a veteran or our health care system. That in itself should scare veterans to death!
It shouldn't matter whether you're a Republican or Democrat, folks, that should scare the hell out of you. Mr. Obama knows nothing about the military or the VA or veterans!
Anyone who says they'll have great advisers, and those are the ones they will count on for advice, is full of crap when it comes to us veterans. Remember what happened in Vietnam when we had all those armchair advisers directing the war from Washington? And how about those advisers sitting in plush chairs in Washington and Virginia while troops are taking incoming in Iraq and Afghanistan? And all the blue suited advisers while you're laying in a VA or military hospital, trying to recover from injury or illness, while some senate or congressional committee argues over whether they should fund enough so you can get a decent prosthesis this year?
VA health care is going downhill fast once again. For example, I used to get to see my neurologist every three months, then every four, then it was bumped to every six months. Now they don't make appointments and you have to call and try to get in and they're overbooked. My November appointment was never scheduled and the earliest I can be seen is March. That will be over ten months between neurologist visits! And, they never refilled my medications, twice! So I had to call in twice about that too. If you're not on top of them, frankly, you're going to fall through the cracks and you're screwed!
Plus, they have all new doctors every few years, using residents from the local university medical schools, which means we're getting trainees essentially. By the time you get comfortable with a physician, they're gone and you get a new one; I've had three and onto number four in March, the last at my request as docs who forget to refill prescriptions, tell you they don't believe in meds that have helped you in the past, and have to have a med student present to grandstand with at every visit somehow don't seem all that positive for me. So you walk out with a feeling that you haven't been helped at all. Kind of like facing the enemy and the only good thing is their Kalashnikov was empty.
I can't get to see a cardiologist even though I have a stent implant, since there aren't enough cardiologists in the system to go around. Bet those fat cat politicians in Washington have plenty of cardiologists lined up waiting for their butts when needed!
Care used to be excellent, but it is failing. The in-patient room I was in a few months ago was dirty; your feet stuck to the floors. The bathroom was nasty. You could write your name in the film on the windows. You couldn't understand the nurses on the night shift; none of them spoke fluent English. But they did swab your nose daily to test for MRSA. What about cleaning the damned room? Maybe that would help reduce infection potentials?
They tout the suicide prevention programs, and how they want to help all the troops with PTSD before it ends up like 'Nam? If they handle it with the same bureaucratic bull crap and bungling as everything else, it won't help a whole lot. They'll tell a great story to Congress and the Senate about the wonders they're accomplishing, while military personnel are coming home and offing themselves in a distant field or side road, because they never had anyone who really understood what the hell they went through. And it's been reported the VA under reported many suicides. Why? Probably because they didn't or couldn't do the job they were supposed to do. Funding or flat out F**k-up? It doesn't matter, but there are many families grieving that shouldn't be. And until the funding and people are in place to recognize those who need help and then help them and their families as needed in a timely manner, things won't change.
Truth is, the VA has some wonderful programs, people and facilities, but the system is busted and needs to be fixed before it falls apart. It's fragile, and if it's not fixed, it will crumble fast. I'm seeing that first hand, and I sure don't want to be a service casualty a second time, this time due to lack of medical care funding and follow through.
Fund it, fix it and hold it accountable. Simple enough even for a bunch of stupid politicians!
The VA states the problem is the influx of troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. But wait, they didn't expect this? Once again, no leadership at the VA and no foresight. That's something I'm sure John McCain will provide, leadership and someone to kick butt and get this house in order!
Regardless, if you don't get out and vote and make the right choice, you'll see this get worse and worse. Add to that the increased taxes you'll be seeing, and the problems will compound. The taxes won't hit us older people nearly as hard as they will our children and grandchildren, as they're the ones working and coming up in the world.
I can look them in the eye and say I voted for the man who could do the job for the veterans who gave so much for this country...will you be able to do the same?
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