It’s Unacceptable: Vets Face a Battle on the Homefront, too

November 11th, 2010. By Kristine B

With Veterans’ Day upon us, Pleading Ignorance takes a break from explaining legalese and takes the opportunity to thank veterans for all they have done—and all they have sacrificed. And we look at some of the battles veterans face when they return home, and ask why we can’t do more for the people who have sacrificed so much?

Each year on Veterans’ Day, we take the time to pay tribute to those who have sacrificed so much—in some cases, their lives—in the service of their country. We take a moment to remember those who died and give our respect to veterans who so bravely fought, and continue to fight, so that many of us don’t have to.

I’d like to think that Veterans’ Day still means something, but some of the thank you’s might seem a bit hollow, considering the treatment that veterans return home to. After facing horrors that many of us can’t even conceive of, they come home to long and often complex claims processes, face having their very real claims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) declined or questioned, and receive sometimes questionable medical treatment at the hands of Veterans Affairs medical centers and hospitals. They face medical malpractice and unreasonably denied disability claims.

It’s unacceptable.

Back in 2007, veterans spoke before Congress about horrific conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Those conditions included one sergeant being released to outpatient treatment within a week of being shot in the head, despite having a TBI and having lost an eye. The same sergeant faced delayed treatment because of lost documents and ultimately had to take his medical care into his own hands because no one from continuing care would contact him.

At the time, acting secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, stated, “We have let some soldiers down,” (as quoted in The New York Times (3/6/2007).

It’s unacceptable.

These are people who have given up so much for their country—they deserve more than to be “let down”. They deserve the best possible medical care, not weeks and months of waiting for necessary treatments and filing appeal after appeal while their claims are denied. The only acceptable thing should be that every veteran receives proper medical care in a timely manner. It shouldn’t be okay that even one soldier is “let down.”

Otherwise, the message is, “Thanks, you’ve served your time. Now that we’ve got what we needed from you, we’ll deal with you when we can get to it.”

It’s unacceptable. 

You might say things are better now than they were in 2007, but just this year, Alan Simpson reportedly gave this quote (as printed by The Washington Post, (9/1/10) “The irony [is] that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess.” (You can read my response to that quote here.)

Simpson was discussing whether or not veterans should be compensated for conditions they might have developed even if they hadn’t been involved in active duty. The inference was that by filing VA claims, veterans were somehow “not helping”—not being fiscally responsible—at a time when their country needs them to be so.

Even in 2010 we nickel and dime our vets to save a buck, with no regard for doing the right thing for those who have already given so much—for all of us. Still there is discussion about whether or not veterans should be compensated for exposure to Agent Orange and whether a loosening of the PTSD rules will overly burden the VA system.

It’s unacceptable.

There are reportedly still veterans being discharged without proper treatment for combat stress, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury—and even without the proper paperwork that would enable them to access medical benefits. Instead, they are being discharged for “adjustment disorders,” which leaves them without medical benefits. Suicide rates among veterans are on the rise.

So on this Veterans’ Day, go ahead and give your thanks to our veterans—sadly, it may be all they get. And rest assured, most would graciously accept your thanks and leave it at that. But also remember that just because some veterans are at home doesn’t mean their battle is over. For some, the battle has just moved to the homefront.

And that’s unacceptable.

Tags: VA Disability, Veterans, Veterans Day, Vets

This was posted on Thursday, November 11th, 2010 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Pleading Ignorance, Veterans . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.