2004-10-07

Bush, Republicans and No to Veterans

By: Jack Dalton

Well, here we are again. Fiscal year 2005 and no budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs. To make matters worse, there are Bush/Cheney republican cheerleaders in congress that want to hold the proposed V.A. budget at 2004 levels. That makes sense, to keep a budget that was grossly under funded and apply it to a new year that has seen a massive influx of new veterans seeking help and medical care, mostly from the first Gulf war and this current war of choice in Iraq.

Due to under funding V.A. facilities are being closed (two in my own state of Oregon); wait time for appointments have increased to over 6 months in some cases; a back log of over 300,000 disability claims with decreasing numbers of those to process the claims ala Bush 2005 proposed budget; nearly 150,000 additional veterans are eligible for health care due to service in Afghanistan and Iraq to further strain an already over strained and under funded Veterans Administration.

These V.A. budget decisions are being made by those that when they had the chance to serve this nation in uniform refused to do so! They were willing to support a war (Vietnam) as long as others fought it. People like Cheney, who “had other priorities than military service”, and Tom DeLay, “there were so many minorities being called up there was no room for patriots like me” are the ones that are making policy decisions on veterans health care and disability payments. They are doing the same thing in terms of Iraq—some one else to fight their war then turn their collective backs on those that come back needing help.

In short, veterans that have given their all for this nation are being told there is no room at the Inn. Currently there have been over 26,000 veterans from the Bush/Cheney war of choice in Iraq that have applied for disability benefits and that number is growing daily.

“The system is already strained, and it’s going to get strained even worse,” says David Autry, with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). “It’s not a rosy picture at all, and they can’t possibly hope to say they’re going to provide timely benefits to the new folks if they can’t provide timely care to the people already in the system.”

Why is it we veterans must continue to fight our own government merely to get it to live up to the promises made when we enlisted and then went to war? Why is it the Department of Veterans Affairs must vote to have a budget every year? Why is not the V.A. budget a mandatory budget line item?

Year after year, why must we veterans of wars we were sent to fight continue having to fight in an effort to force this government to keep its promises made to us?

I do know this; the V.A. is not ready, by any stretch of the imagination, for the influx of new veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq. Will they, as did so many of us that went to Vietnam, have to fight 20 and 30 years before this government admits the harm done them by this Bush/Cheney war of choice and gives them their just due?

Or will they have to fight 36 years as did I, going through 87 surgeries (with another next week) 22 diseases and extreme medical conditions (Agent Orange) before getting any semblance of justice? For their sake I hope and pray not. I fight for them now, as I do for any and all veterans that have been further victimized by a government system that for all appearances does not care.

Why do not a greater number of citizens of this nation care enough about how veterans have been and are being treated by this system; Why are not more standing along side of us veterans that want nothing more, or less, than for this nation to honor the agreement it made and help us—and now more than ever as even more war torn veterans will need help and assistance?

Or have people been numbed so much by “reality TV” and “video game warfare” they have lost touch with the fact that people, human beings, are being blown to hell and back, physically, mentally and emotionally and will need our help? Or is it that the citizens of this nation will do as Bush, Cheney and the rest of the republican chickenhawks in congress and just turn their collective backs on those they have sent to Iraq and Afghanistan?

I really do hope the citizens of this nation have more honor than that—time will tell.

Jack Dalton is a disabled Vietnam veteran and independent writer that lives in Portland, Oregon. His web site is www.ommp.org and his blog is http://jackdalton.bluelemur.com All comments are read, unfortunately due to the volume of emails not all are answered. Jack_dalton@ommp.org is his email address.