Veterans returning from the war, maimed, have been getting a raw deal from the Pentagon, until Primetime Live brought the stories of a few soldiers to their attention. The Pentagon then decided to help these 3 or 4 guys BECAUSE of the spotlight, but what about the rest? What about all the head injury cases, the THI cases without obvious wounds?
What about the Veterans of the Gulf War? What about the the Veterans of the nameless mini-wars? How about the Veterans of Vietnam? Even the promises made to the Veterans of Korea and WWII have been broken.
If our Soldiers (and I stand behind our soldiers 150%) were aware of the US Government's lousy track-record of taking care of our permanently injured Vets., prior to enlistment, maybe they would think twice about signing-up to fight for our Country.
Anyone who has spent even 20 minutes in the average VA hospital, (not talking about the state-of-the-art military hospitals for active duty soldiers) has been assaulted with sounds, sights and smells so repellent that incredible anger or sadness wells up.
They don't provide the vets with even the most basic of necessities... SOAP, TOOTHBRUSHES, COMBS, TOOTHPASTE... and DO NOT EVEN try to tell me they do, because I have been in these facilities, in several states, as a chairperson/and or member of Patriotic committees which round up and deliver these little items, (in more than one state,) and have spent a lot of time with government forsaken Veterans, holding their hands, lending an ear, and handing out these little presents. I'm not just talking about wizened old Vets., but young ones, younger than myself, whose only wish is death, anything to escape the (unmanaged) pain. What really kills me is how NONE OF THEM lambaste the government whose lack of caring dumped them there, to be warehoused, as cheaply as possible, until death.
Sure the system is over-burdened, and more are being added to it everyday, but the government must step up to help more than a few Veterans, that had the spotlight shone on them.
